Department for Transport

Department for Transport: Procurement

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many contractors currently employed by his Department are paid £1,000 or more per day.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 05 June 2018.The correct answer should have been:

The following areas have contractors that are currently paid £1,000 or more per day. DfTc76DVSANilDVLANilMCANilVCANil

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The following areas have contractors that are currently paid £1,000 or more per day. DfTc76DVSANilDVLANilMCANilVCANil

Department for Transport: Procurement

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 25 May 2018 to Question 146180 on procurement, what the daily rate of pay is of each of those contractors who have been employed by his Department for five years or more.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Due to the numbers of contractors working in the Department for 5 years or more totalling less than five, we are unable to provide the figures requested as it could lead to identification of individuals so therefore constitutes personal information.

Department for Transport: Procurement

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 May 2018 to Question 147409 on procurement, how long each of those contractors has been employed by his Department at that daily rate.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Since our response to 147409 on the 23 May 2018, it has been confirmed that there are six contractors earning over £1000 a day, recruited via the Contingent Labour one framework. These contractors have been employed over the past 18 months with the latest starting 2 weeks ago. I am arranging for the earlier response to be corrected.

Railways: Trespass

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle trespassing on trainlines in the West Midlands.

Joseph Johnson: Holding answer received on 25 June 2018



In recognition of the challenges posed by trespass on the railway a Trespass Improvement Programme was initiated in January 2018, drawing together representatives from across the industry. It aims to find ways to tackle trespass in a long-lasting and sustainable way, but with a particular focus on trespass by young people. It intends to learn from other work in the rail sector around, for example, suicide prevention in working with parties outside rail. Specific strands of work include public awareness campaigns, the role of technology, sharing of good practice between different routes, and approaches to the use of physical barrier to address trespass.

Railways: Industrial Disputes

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 15 May 2003 to Question 113237 on rail strikes, whether any payment has been made to any rail operator in the last year to reimburse the company for revenues lost as a result of official industrial action.

Joseph Johnson: No payments have been made to rail operators over the past 12 months to reimburse them for revenues lost as a result of industrial action.

Heathrow Airport: Railways

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the proposed western rail access to Heathrow.

Joseph Johnson: Holding answer received on 25 June 2018



Network Rail are consulting on two designs during Statutory Consultation, which runs from 11 May to 22 June. The cost to the public purse is dependent on the agreement of the final design, decisions on the train operating company, the funding and financing proposition and agreement of acceptable terms with the Heathrow aviation industry. The Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline sets out the process for investment decisions on railway enhancement projects, which will be made within the context of the overall portfolio.

Great Western Railway Line: Heathrow Airport

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish a breakdown of the funding identified for the proposed western access rail to Heathrow; and if he will make a statement.

Joseph Johnson: Holding answer received on 25 June 2018



Network Rail are funded by the Department for Transport to submit the Development Consent Order for the Western Rail Link to Heathrow. The 2013 Aviation Policy Framework clearly sets out that developers should pay the costs of upgrading or enhancing road, rail or other transport networks or services where there is a need to cope with additional passengers travelling to and from expanded or growing airports. The Western Rail Link to Heathrow has a wider range of beneficiaries, and the Government will consider, along with other relevant stakeholders, the need for additional public funding. The quantification of non-airport benefit is dependent on agreement of the final design and decisions on the train operating company. This is expected in Summer 2019. The airport contribution would be subject to a negotiation, and review by regulators.

Disability: Parking

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received from people with disabilities who are holders of parking permits and from other key stakeholders on the ability of people with disabilities to continue to benefit from all associated parking facilities in EU countries after the UK leaves the EU and vice versa.

Jesse Norman: The Department for Transport receives occasional enquiries from members of the public and Members of Parliament on this issue. The Government recognises the benefits of mutual recognition of disabled parking cards across the EU for UK citizens, and vice versa. We are considering carefully the future of these arrangements. Until we leave, and during the implementation period, we expect to continue applying the current arrangements.

Railways

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria his Department uses to determine the value of railway lines.

Joseph Johnson: The Department uses the Transport Appraisal Guidance (available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transport-analysis-guidance-webtag) to determine the value-for-money of railway lines. This guidance is consistent with the HM Treasury guidance for use across central Government on the appraisal of policies, projects and programmes: the Green Book (available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-green-book-appraisal-and-evaluation-in-central-governent).

Highway Code: Pedestrians

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to review the Highway Code to give pedestrians priority over turning traffic when crossing side streets.

Jesse Norman: As part of the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy Safety Review, the Government issued a Call for Evidence on improving safety, and perceptions of safety for cyclists and pedestrians. The Call for Evidence closed on 1 June with over 13,000 responses. We are considering responses, including suggestions to review the Highway Code and pedestrian priority, alongside the available evidence base and will set out a response in due course.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Companies: Fees and Charges

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what guidance his Department issues for companies charging booking fees.

Andrew Griffiths: Guidance for businesses on consumer law is set out on the Business Companion website. Government guidance on booking fees is set out to the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 on gov.uk website.

Higher Education: Research

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on funding for higher education academic research at universities in the West Midlands.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Government is undertaking a wide range of analysis in support of our EU exit negotiations and preparations. Ministers have a specific responsibility, which Parliament has endorsed, not to release information that would reveal our negotiating position. However, we have consistently made clear that research and innovation are vital to the UK’s prosperity, security and wellbeing, which is why they are at the heart of the Government’s industrial strategy. It is in the interests of the UK and EU for us to continue to collaborate and my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister has recently said that the UK would like the option to fully associate with the excellence-based European science and innovation programmes under the EU’s next multiannual financial framework (MFF). Under the current MFF, the text of the December Joint Report envisages that UK entities’ right to participate in EU programmes will be unaffected by the UK’s withdrawal from the EU for the duration of projects. We have made significant progress in turning the Joint Report into the legal text of the draft Withdrawal Agreement, and the Government’s guarantee of funding continues to stand if necessary.

Medicine: Research

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the value of the UK research in medicines generated by early phase clinical research organisations.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Department has not made an estimate of the overall value of research in medicines generated by early-phase clinical research organisations. However, there are several reports which have evaluated the return on investment in different areas, including an independent study funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), Wellcome, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and Arthritis Research UK on musculoskeletal disease research (published January 2018). MRC, which is part of UK Research and Innovation, supports translational research and experimental medicine. Pre-clinical research and early clinical testing is supported through the Developmental Funding Pathway Scheme to which the MRC commits up to £30 million per year, CROs may be included in MRC grants on a fee for service basis. The scheme is part of the Biomedical Catalyst programme funded in partnership with Innovate UK. Experimental medicine is a strategic priority for the MRC and can be supported across the research portfolio and industry partnerships, such as the MRC-Industry Asset Sharing Initiative. The DHSC-funded NIHR invests over £1 billion annually to fund translational, clinical and applied health research spanning the whole innovation pathway. This includes support for research infrastructure in the NHS providing the expertise and facilities the NHS needs for first-class research which health and life sciences researchers, including CROs, can access at any stage of the clinical development process. The main NIHR-funded research infrastructure in the NHS which supports early translational (experimental medicine) clinical trials are the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres and NIHR Clinical Research Facilities. In 2016/17, NIHR funding of £928 million was announced for new NIHR BRCs and NIHR CRFs for 5 years from April 2017. These schemes have seen year-on-year increases in the number of early phase trials (including first-in-human and up to and including phase II) since 2010: from 602 early phase studies in 2010/11 to 2,870 in 2016/17.

Medicine: Research

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that UK clinical research organisations maintain their competitiveness in the event that their access to the EU market is restricted after the UK leaves the EU.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The NIHR provides the support, expertise and facilities that the NHS needs to undertake world-leading clinical trials funded by the NIHR, and other public, charity and life sciences industry partners, by funding a range of infrastructure facilities and the Clinical Research Network (CRN). The CRN provides the infrastructure that allows high-quality clinical research funded by the life-sciences industry, including CROs, to be undertaken throughout the NHS. Through NIHR and its partners, and by close collaboration with the life sciences sector and industry, the Government will ensure that the UK remains one of the best places in the world for research, science and innovation.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Laith Abu Zeyad

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made representations to his Palestinian counterparts on the case of Amnesty International staff member, Laith Abu Zeyad; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: Whilst we have not raised the case of Laith Abu Zeyad, our Consul General in Jerusalem raised our concerns over the actions of the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces and police during the demonstration held in Ramallah on 13 June. He stressed the need for an investigation to understand what happened, to learn the lessons and to enable appropriate action to be taken.

Madagascar: Human Rights

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Madagascan counterpart on human rights for Christians in that country.

Harriett Baldwin: No discussions have taken place between the Foreign Secretary and his counterpart regarding the human rights for Christians in Madagascar. Around 90% of Malagasy self-identify as Christian, including the current President and most members of the current government. Christian churches are found in even the smallest village, and State TV regularly broadcasts programmes aimed at a Christian audience. We are unaware of any state abuses of Christians on the basis of their faith. Our Embassy in Madagascar attends regular human rights meetings in local multilateral fora and raises issues of concern where necessary.

Democratic Republic of the Congo: International Assistance

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department and the Department for International Development have had with the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on ebola; and what assistance the Government has given to international aid agencies to provide vaccines to tackle ebola.

Harriett Baldwin: The Government has provided significant support to the joint Democratic Republic of Congo Government (DRC)-World Health Organisation (WHO) response to the Ebola outbreak. The Department for International Development (DfID) has provided £5 million in funding for the response plan. In addition DfID has provided £1 million in funding for the use of an experimental vaccine (the development of which was also UK Aid-funded) in the affected area. These interventions are helping to save lives in DRC as well as to mitigate the risk of a wider international outbreak.We will continue to discuss with the DRC Government and WHO how to assist the situation going forward.

China: Religious Freedom

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Chinese counterpart on the (a) right to freedom of religion and belief in China and (b) the effect of revised regulations on religious affairs in China on that right.

Mark Field: We remain concerned about reports of persecution of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners and others on the grounds of their religion or belief in China. The freedom to practise, change or share one’s faith or belief without discrimination or violent opposition is a fundamental human right that all people should enjoy. We believe that societies which aim to guarantee freedom of religion or belief are more stable, prosperous and more resilient against violent extremism. The UK last raised these issues with China at the UK/China Human Rights Dialogue in June 2017.

USA: Undocumented Migrants

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the US administration on reuniting families separated as a result of that administration's policies on immigration.

Sir Alan Duncan: ​As the Prime Minister said on 20 June, the reports and pictures we have seen in the past couple of days are deeply disturbing and wrong. We do not apply similar measures here and will never do so. Later on 20 June, President Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at ending the separation policy.

Nigeria: Crimes of Violence

David Linden: What steps the Government is taking to help tackle violence against predominantly Christian farming communities in central Nigeria.

Harriett Baldwin: The Government is concerned about ongoing clashes involving pastoralists and local farmers in Nigeria, driven by disputes over access to land, grazing routes and water. We have raised concerns at Federal and State Government levels and encourage solutions which meet the needs of affected communities and prevent further violence.

Yemen: Armed Conflict

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: What steps he is taking to help resolve the conflict in Yemen.

Alistair Burt: The UK is playing a leading role in diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful solution. The Foreign Secretary and I are in regular contact with our counterparts across the region about this matter. In the last few days, I have spoken to the Deputy Emirati Foreign Minister and the Yemeni Foreign Minister.

Nicaragua: Human Rights

Diana Johnson: What recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Nicaragua.

Sir Alan Duncan: The Government remains deeply concerned by the reported human rights abuses and excessive use of force by security services. We condemn violence against peaceful protesters, particularly the use of live ammunition. The Nicaraguan Government must respect human rights and take responsibility for ending the violence.

Africa: Diplomatic Relations

Chris Green: What his diplomatic priorities are for Africa after the UK leaves the EU.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK’s diplomatic priorities for Africa are to support a prosperous, safer, healthier continent, which sees the UK as a partner of choice for peace and security, trade and economic development, and which is less reliant on aid and more resilient to shocks and stresses.

Northern Ireland Office

Commonwealth Youth Games: Northern Ireland

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what progress has been made on signing off the bid to host the Commonwealth Youth Games in Northern Ireland.

Karen Bradley: On Friday 22nd June, the Commonwealth Games Federation Executive Board resolved to begin discussions and invite expressions of interest from other Commonwealth cities who wish to build on the successes of Samoa 2015 and Bahamas 2017 and host the 2021 edition of the Youth Games.I share the disappointment that Commonwealth Youth Games will not take place in Belfast in 2021, although the Federation have indicated that Belfast will be able to re-submit its candidature for 2021, or consider another candidature in the future; this is why we need to secure a restoration of the devolved institutions. The UK Government remains focused on restoring a democratically accountable devolved government, so that locally accountable politicians can make decisions on behalf of the public they represent.

Official Engagements: Northern Ireland

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in how many Northern Ireland parliamentary constituencies she has had engagements since her appointment to that office.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has had engagements in twelve of the sixteen parliamentary constituencies since her appointment.

Integrated Schools: Northern Ireland

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2018 to Question 905871, when she expects the full £500m from the Fresh Start negotiations to be allocated.

Mr Shailesh Vara: In addition to the recent announcement by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland of the allocation of up to £140m to fund the Strule Shared Education Campus and the announcement in March 2016 to support the development of 23 shared and integrated education projects, both the UK government and the Northern Ireland Civil Service are working closely together to bring forward further bids for funding as a priority.

Integrated Schools: Northern Ireland

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2018 to Question 905871 if she will meet with (a) Kellie Armstrong MLA and (b) the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon to discuss integrated education.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The Secretary of State regularly meets a range of MPs and MLAs on Northern Ireland matters and will continue to do so. A member of the ministerial team would be happy to have a meeting to discuss integrated education with Kellie Armstrong MLA and the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon.

Integrated Schools: Northern Ireland

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2018 to Question 905871 on Education: Northern Ireland, how much of the £500m funding will be allocated to integrated education.

Mr Shailesh Vara: Funding for integrated education projects will be considered against the policy objective of increasing provision. The allocation of funding for integrated education will be determined once bids are considered and funding is allocated. Both the UK government and Northern Ireland Civil Service are working closely together to bring forward bids for funding as a priority.

Marriage: Northern Ireland

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the Government's policy is on equal marriage in Northern Ireland; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Shailesh Vara: Same-sex marriage is a devolved matter.The Government's priority therefore remains the re-establishment of a fully-functioning devolved government in Northern Ireland, so that decisions on same-sex marriage can be taken by locally elected and locally accountable politicians.

Department of Health and Social Care

In Vitro Fertilisation

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) fresh and (b) frozen embryos have been used for embryo transfer in each year since 2014 from fresh egg collection cycles where 15 or more eggs were collected.

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) fresh and (b) frozen embryos remain in storage in each year since 2104 from fresh egg collection cycles where 15 or more eggs were collected.

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) fresh and (b) frozen embryos have been discarded in each year since 2014 from fresh egg collection cycles where 15 or more eggs were collected.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information requested is shown in the attached table.



PQ154565_table
(Word Document, 14.69 KB)

In Vitro Fertilisation

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many egg donors have been exposed to stimulated IVF cycles more than three times in each year since 2014.

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many egg donors have been exposed to stimulated IVF cycles more than four times in each year since 2014.

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many egg donors have been exposed ‎to stimulated IVF cycles more than five times in each year since 2014.

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many egg donors have been exposed to stimulated IVF cycles more than six times in each year since 2014.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information requested is shown in the attached table.



PQ154568_table
(Word Document, 14.26 KB)

In Vitro Fertilisation

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many donors have donated more than 20 eggs as a result of (a) single and (b) multiple stimulated IVF cycles in each year since 2014.

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many donors have donated more than 30 eggs as a result of (a) single and (b) multiple stimulated IVF cycles in each year since 2014.

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many donors have donated more than 40 eggs as a result of (a) single and (b) multiple stimulated IVF cycles in each year since 2014.

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many donors have donated more than 50 eggs as a result of (a) single and (b) multiple stimulated IVF cycles in each year since 2014.

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many donors have donated more than 60 eggs as a result of (a) single and (b) multiple stimulated IVF cycles in each year since 2014.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information requested is shown in the attached table.



PQ154572 table
(Word Document, 20.46 KB)

Haemophilia: Medical Treatments

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to increase the uptake of extended half life treatment by people with (a) haemophilia A and (b) haemophilia B.

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England has made an assessment of (a) the potential merits of reducing the number of infusions of blood products, (b) improvements in health-related quality of life, (c) improved Haemophilia Joint Health scores and (d) reductions in Annual Bleeding Rates in decision-making on the procurement of haemophilia treatments; and if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of NHS England’s tendering process for haemophilia treatment.

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment the Government has made of the uptake in England of extended half life treatment for people with (a) haemophilia A and (b) haemophilia B with the uptake of that treatment in (i) Ireland, (ii) Canada and (iii) the EU.

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, he will make it his policy to ensure that all eligible patients with (a) haemophilia A and (b) haemophilia B  have access to extended half life blood treatments.

Steve Brine: Extended Half Life products are relatively new products for which data is maturing and is collected via the UK Haemophilia database. These products provide an appropriate treatment for some patients. NHS England, through the Commercial Medicines Unit (CMU), undertakes national tenders which allow all companies who produce plasma, recombinant and extended half-life products to submit prices to be included in the national pricing framework. The relative prices are used to determine commissioning access for all products, including extended half-life products. Through commissioning processes such as the Haemophilia Quality Dashboard, patient experience of treatment and its outcomes in relation to bleeds and joint scores is kept regularly under review. The opportunity to continuously improve the patient experience and value of treatment with similar or improved clinical outcomes is an area for further assessment based on new and emerging data. There are a number of new therapeutic agents for haemophilia, including extended half-life products, and many patients are being recruited to clinical trials or early access schemes for new products. When assessing tenders for haemophilia products, NHS England takes into account the clinical outcomes to be achieved, the data available on the products and the prices offered. The aim is to deliver access to a range of treatments to meet individual patient need whilst supporting the use of clinically appropriate lowest cost options to achieve the outcomes required. This process has delivered both access to new treatments and substantial savings. No review of the tendering process is planned. NHS England regularly reviews its tender framework for blood products to ensure a range of treatments are commissioned to meet individual patient and maximises the use of clinically appropriate lowest cost options to achieve the clinical outcomes required. An assessment of comparative uptake compared to the uptake in Ireland, Canada and the European Union has not been undertaken.

Suicide: Medical Treatments

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have received medical treatment as a result of an attempted suicide in each of the last five years.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following table. Count of finished admitted episodes with an external cause of intentional self-harm, 2012-13 to 2016-17 2012-132013-142014-152015-162016-17Total107,451117,115110,618113,253107,291Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS Digital Notes:A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes.Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.The data provided covers hospital inpatient activity only.

Heart Diseases: Medical Equipment

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have (a) been affected by contaminated heart surgery devices and (b) died as a result of such contamination in each of the last five years.

Caroline Dinenage: As of 1 March 2018, there were 39 cases in the United Kingdom of Mycobacterium chimaera (M. chimaera) infection following surgery on cardiopulmonary bypass since 2007, of which 22 are known to have died. The risk of infection is relatively low and control measures have been put in place. Public Health England, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the National Health Service across the United Kingdom have recognised this issue and have been working together in close collaboration with the clinical community and manufacturers, since it was identified. This has been to ensure appropriate and proportionate measures were taken to protect patients, while ensuring the maintenance of lifesaving cardiac surgical services. Public Health England has also published guidance and advice for health professionals on M. chimaera infections associated with cardiopulmonary bypass.

Skin Piercing

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his policy is on the regulation of body piercings.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department is responsible for the confirmation of byelaws for regulating cosmetic piercing businesses in England under Section 236 of the Local Government Act 1972. Local authorities in England are responsible for the regulation of piercing providers, under the Local Government Act 2003, and may implement byelaws. They have powers to regulate the hygiene and cleanliness of the practice of acupuncture and of businesses providing tattooing, semi-permanent skin-colouring, cosmetic piercing and electrolysis under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982. In 2006 the Department produced a new consolidated set of model byelaws, and updated provisions to reflect current infection control advice and industry practice.

Surgical Mesh Implants

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June to Question 146919 on Surgical Mesh Implants, which arm’s length bodies the Government is in dialogue with to assess how it can continue to build on the evidence base for surgical mesh.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Following publication of NHS Digital’s ‘Retrospective Review of Surgery for Urogynaecological Prolapse and Stress Urinary Incontinence using Tape or Mesh’, at the request of the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health (Lord O’Shaughnessy), the Chief Medical Officer sought views on what the data tells us and what further questions it raises from arm’s length bodies, professional groups/societies, academics and campaign groups. The arm’s length bodies and professional groups/societies approached were NHS England, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Royal College of Surgeons, Royal College of General Practitioners, the British Association of Urological Surgeons and the British Society of Urogynaecology. The Department is also in dialogue with NHS England, NICE, MHRA and NHS Digital on the matter.

Surgical Mesh Implants

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 06 June to Question 146920 on Surgical Mesh Implants, whether the request which has been submitted through an NHS Trust for the addition of a ventral mesh rectopexy HES code came from the Government or from a third party.

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June to Question 146920, what the timeframe is for the determination of the request for the addition of a ventral mesh rectopexy HES code which has been submitted through an NHS Trust.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The request for the addition of an OPCS-4 code for ventral mesh rectopexy was submitted by a Clinical Coding Service Manager at a National Health Service trust on the basis of the absence of a code. This was not a request from the Government or a third party. OPCS-4 is updated on a three-yearly basis. Any new or updated codes for ventral mesh rectopexy will be available for use by the NHS and system supplier implementation in the next update to OPCS-4. The next update to OPCS-4 (OPCS-4.9) is scheduled for 1 April 2020.

Childbirth

Alec Shelbrooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of premature babies in England in the last 12 months; and how many of those babies had one or both parents take a course in neonatal resuscitation on discharge.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Office of National Statistics (ONS) publishes data on premature births in its Birth Characteristics publication. The latest data available is for 2016 which shows that there were 54,143 pre-term births (live births before 37 weeks gestation) in England and Wales. The ONS do not publish this information for England only. Data on the number of parents that receive neonatal resuscitation training is not collected centrally. However, all neonatal units provide resuscitation training for the parents of babies considered at higher risk of potentially needing resuscitation in the community, which would include babies born prematurely. The training is provided by members of staff from within the neonatal unit and is organised and delivered at a local level.

Epilepsy: Medical Treatments

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has any plans to carry out research on treatments for epilepsy patients.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR currently funds seven active projects with a focus on epilepsy, with a total value of £9,914,239. This figure reflects the total amount of funding allocated to each project for its entire duration. In addition, the NIHR provides infrastructure funding (£512,019 for the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2020) to the Cochrane Epilepsy Group, which undertakes a high number of reviews in this area. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including epilepsy. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. On 21 June 2018, the NIHR launched a global health research call to fund research in three areas, including epilepsy. This call is funded by the Department’s Official Development Assistance allocation.

Autism: Children

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to reduce waiting times for autism assessments for children.

Caroline Dinenage: Children should not have to face long waits for an autism diagnosis and we are continuing to work with our partners to help localities address long waiting times for an autism diagnosis. We have included autism indicators in the Mental Health Services Dataset, with data beginning to be collected from 1 April 2018. The data will include waiting times for an assessment for autism to begin. The current plan is to publish the dataset after a year of data has been collected.

Maternity Services: Foreign Nationals

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women entitled to free maternity care have been charged in error for maternity care under the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, as amended.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department holds information on the number of destitute women who have been charged for NHS maternity care under the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015; and if he will make a statement.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many destitute and low income women have missed pregnancy scans after receiving notification that they will be charged for maternity care under the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, as amended.

Stephen Barclay: The Department does not hold this information. The national guidance is clear that National Health Service maternity treatment should always be considered as immediately necessary and provided to all patients regardless of whether or not they are entitled to receive it free of charge or there are doubts about whether they could pay if subsequently found to be chargeable under the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, as amended.

NHS Improvement

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2018 to Question 151034 on NHS: staff, what the main aspects of the NHS Improvement programme are referred to in that answer.

Stephen Barclay: NHS Improvement, in partnership with NHS Employers, are working with National Health Service trusts across England to reduce nursing staff turnover. The immediate focus is on NHS providers, particularly mental health providers, to support delivery of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health. Targeted support is available to all NHS trusts in England alongside an extensive programme of improvement work and retention events. The overall objectives for the programme are to:- bring down leaver rates in the NHS by 2020;- bring an increased local focus within trusts’ focus on retention;- provide trusts with knowledge and tools to improve retention; and- reduce variation in retention rates across providers.

Plastic Surgery

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the NHS of providing cosmetic surgery was in the last year for which figures are available.

Stephen Barclay: This information is not collected.

Department of Health and Social Care: Policy

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the main policy priority is for his Department for 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department of Health and Social Care helps people to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. It published its single departmental plan on 23 May 2018 which sets out six high level objectives for 2018-19 and how it will achieve them. Further information is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-single-departmental-plan/department-of-health-and-social-care-single-departmental-plan

Multiple Births

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the NHS was of multiple births in each year since 2010.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department does not hold this data in the format requested. Maternity delivery episodes are not costed by multiple or singleton birth; they are costed by physiological delivery, assisted delivery and planned or emergency caesarean.

Mental Health: Older People

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of (a) social isolation and (b) loneliness on the mental health of the elderly.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government recognises the negative impact of isolation and loneliness on the quality of life for elderly and other vulnerable people. It is not possible, however, to demonstrate a causal link between becoming socially isolated or lonely and developing mental health problems. Whilst Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services cannot ‘treat’ loneliness, those who experience mental health conditions may also be lonely and vice versa. IAPT services can signpost or refer people onto other services that seek to address loneliness where these are available locally. Feelings of social isolation and loneliness are not exclusive to the elderly but that group can be particularly affected. The Green Paper on the care of older people which will be published in the autumn, will set out a number of proposals to help older people live healthier, longer, more independent lives.

European Medicines Agency

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans for UK companies to have full access to European Medicines Agency (a) clinical trials portal and database after the UK leaves the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Government values the strong collaborative partnerships that we have across the European Union in the areas of science, research and innovation, and as part of Exit negotiations is working to ensure that we have the best possible environment in which to support clinical trials and new medicines after we leave the EU. In March, the United Kingdom and EU negotiating teams reached agreement on the terms of a time-limited implementation period, that will start on 30 March 2019 and last until 31 December 2020. One benefit of this agreement is that the UK’s access to networks, information systems and databases will continue as now during this time. Regarding the EU’s new Clinical Trials Regulation (CTR), the CTR is expected to be implemented during 2020 and would therefore apply to the UK under the terms of the time-limited implementation period. If the new regulation does not come into force during the implementation period, the Government has confirmed that UK law will remain aligned with parts of the EU’s CTR legislation that are within the UK’s control, in order that researchers conducting clinical trials can plan with greater certainty. The two key elements of the regulation that the UK would not be able to implement on its own after this time are the use of a shared central IT portal and participation in the single assessment model, both of which would require a negotiated UK/EU agreement regarding UK involvement following the end of the implementation period. We cannot pre-empt the outcome of these negotiations, but the Government has always been clear on its preference for close cooperation with the EU across all aspects of medicines regulations. No matter what the outcome of negotiations, the UK is committed to offering a competitive service for clinical trial assessment. If the UK is outside of the EU network following the end of the Implementation Period, it will still be possible for sponsors to run multistate trials involving the UK. Sponsors would have to apply to the UK, as well as to the EU concerned states; but the UK would take every effort to ensure this parallel submission is as streamlined and efficient as possible (for example by using the same application dossier), and would provide an assessment outcome no later than the European timeframe. The current regulatory approval legislation will stay in place until such time as any changes are needed, so there will be no interruption in UK clinical trials approval (whether for academic or industry-led clinical trials).

Department for International Development

Migrant Camps: Females

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure that women refugees are protected and helped to feel secure in camps overseas.

Alistair Burt: The UK Government is strongly committed to the protection and security of women refugees both inside and outside of camps. DFID provides support to a number of agencies working directly with women refugees, including the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to ensure that their needs are taken into account, including through appropriate camp design and the provision of lighting. We have shown strong leadership in the global effort to address sexual exploitation and abuse across the aid sector, and are pushing for more effective procedures and greater accountability from all our partners. Examples of our work include supporting UN agencies and NGOs to improve outreach and response for women and girls at risk of violence in the Rohingya crisis, including £12 million to support counselling and psychological support for over 10,000 women suffering from trauma and over 2,000 survivors of sexual violence. We are also investing in research into the drivers of violence experienced by women and girl refugees, to help us and our partners develop more appropriate prevention and support programmes.

Madagascar: Agriculture

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance her Department gives to Madagascar in respect of its agricultural development.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK is helping to strengthen Madagascar’s agricultural development through our support to multilateral agencies, including the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, as well as participation in the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Plan Partner Group. DFID does not have a bilateral Country Programme in Madagascar.

Department for Education

Academies: Expenditure

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2018 to Question 151192 on Academies: Expenditure, when he plans to publish the recipients of the Multi-Academy Trust Development and Improvement Fund on the website Gov.UK; and how much funding was allocated from that fund in 2017-18.

Nadhim Zahawi: We expect details of the recipients of the Multi-Academy Trust Development and Improvement Fund (MDIF) to be published on GOV.UK in September 2018.Trusts applied for MDIF in Autumn 2017 and it was originally anticipated that funding would be delivered in the 17-18 financial year, however, changes to the application assessment timetable and grant agreement negotiations meant that this was not possible. Funding will be allocated from subsequent year’s budgets.

Education

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it is his policy to ensure that young people choose between a wholly technical and wholly academic education when aged 16.

Anne Milton: In line with the recommendations of the Independent Panel on Technical Education, our ambition is that every young person, after an excellent grounding in the core academic subjects and a broad and balanced curriculum to age 16, is presented with two clear choices: the academic or the technical option. Reformed apprenticeships and new T Levels will ensure that the technical option is world-class and provides a high quality alternative to A levels.T Levels will be substantial programmes, so we expect that in future the majority of students will follow either an academic programme (e.g. three A levels) or a technical programme (a T level). We do appreciate that students may change their minds, and we will ensure there are appropriate bridging courses to make movement between the two options easily accessible. In principle, we believe that a student should be able to take an A level alongside their T Level, particularly if it supports progression outcomes for their chosen T Level. We are particularly supportive of high attaining students who want to take Core maths or an A level in maths alongside their T Level.In the response to the consultation on T Level implementation, we committed to reviewing qualifications that currently attract government funding for post-16 study. In designing this review, we will ensure that continued funding is only available for the group of qualifications that serve a genuine purpose, are of a high quality and enable students to progress to meaningful outcomes.

Vocational Education

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that young people are able to experience technical education before they turn 16 years old in order to make an informed choice on (i) T-levels and (ii) other future educational options.

Anne Milton: Pupils who study at University Technical Colleges (UTCs) study an integrated academic and technical curriculum from the start of Key Stage 4 (KS4). This enables them to experience technical education as part of a broad and balanced curriculum before they turn 16, informing their choices about future educational and career pathways.Students at KS4 are able to take up to three Technical Awards alongside GCSEs that will count towards their school's Progress 8 and Attainment 8 scores. Technical Awards are broad, high-quality level 1 and level 2 qualifications in non-English Baccalaureate subjects that equip students with applied knowledge not usually acquired through general education. They focus on applied study of a sector or occupational group, including the acquisition of associate practical or technical skills where appropriate. Each Technical Award is equivalent to a GCSE in robustness and challenge.It is important that young people are able to make informed choices about their future education, training and jobs. Our careers strategy, published in December 2017, says that by 2020 schools should make sure that their students experience at least seven encounters with employers, at least one a year from year 7 to 13. Some of these encounters should be with employers working in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.In January 2018, we introduced a new law which requires all maintained secondary schools and academies to make sure that students hear from a range providers about approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships. Further information about the new law can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/skills-minister-highlights-new-provider-access-law-for-schools.

School Choice: Coventry

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support parents in Coventry whose children have not been granted a place in any of their preferred schools.

Nick Gibb: Holding answer received on 21 June 2018



Delivering good quality school places is a top priority for this Government. The system continues to work well and is rising to the challenge of delivering new places.The Department published its statistical first release on school applications and offers on 14 June. The number of applicants in Coventry receiving a preferred school place at primary school in 2018 is 98.9%. Those receiving a preferred secondary school place is at 91.3%.Local authorities are under a statutory duty to ensure that there are sufficient school places available for all children in their areas. We have provided Coventry with £44.6 million to provide new school places from 2011-2018, and a further £16.1 million has been allocated from 2018-2021.

Children: Day Care

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister for Children and Families of 19 December 2017, Official Report, column 363WH, on what date children in foster care will be able to receive 30 hours free childcare.

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education,  pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister for Children and Families of 19 December 2017, Official Report, column 364WH, whether secondary legislation will be required to extend the entitlement to 30 hours free childcare to foster children.

Nadhim Zahawi: The department has been working with local authorities, fostering service providers, foster parents and others in the sector to develop plans to allow foster parents to access the additional 30 hours free childcare for their foster children when they are in paid work outside of their role as a foster parent and where it is right for the child. We plan to implement this change in time for September 2018. The department is introducing this change in new legislation, which will be made soon.

Schools: Vocational Education

Sir Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the progress made by each English education authority in the implementation of the Baker Clause; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: The department is reviewing the implementation of the ‘Baker Clause’ which requires all maintained schools and academies in England to allow apprenticeship and technical education providers to talk to pupils about a range of education and training options.Since the duty came into force in January, we have been raising awareness with all schools and making it clear what they must do to comply fully with the new requirements.We have published new statutory guidance which explains in detail what schools are required to do. We have promoted the statutory guidance to school governors, head teachers and careers leaders through a range of channels including regular newsletters and circulars. The Careers & Enterprise Company held a series of regional roadshows to inform schools about the government’s careers strategy and included information about the new duty. We also recently published an article in which the importance of this new legislation to schools is outlined and this can be accessed on the GOV.UK website at:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/skills-minister-highlights-new-provider-access-law-for-schools.Officials are reviewing the legislation, to look at how well it has worked during the first two terms of operation and identify any issues with compliance.Any changes found to be necessary to improve the implementation of the law will be implemented from the beginning of the 2018/19 academic year.

Apprentices: Engineering

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Institute for Apprenticeships on the proposal to withdraw land-based engineering level 2 service engineer from the Government's approved list of apprenticeships.

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of land-based engineers in the farming and engineering sectors following the withdrawal of the land-based engineering level 2 service engineer apprenticeship from the Government's approved list of apprenticeships.

Anne Milton: Government currently funds both a level 2 apprenticeship framework and a level 2 apprenticeship standard in land-based engineering. We announced in January 2018 that we will not be withdrawing any further apprenticeship frameworks until 2020.The Institute for Apprenticeships is responsible for the development and approval of apprenticeship standards.The level 2 land-based service engineer apprenticeship standard has not been withdrawn from the list of apprenticeship standards. It was reviewed and approved for delivery in February 2018.Information about the standard is on the Institute for Apprenticeships’ website: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/land-based-service-engineer/.

Department for Education: Policy

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the main policy priority is for his Department for 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: The department published an updated Single Departmental Plan on 23 May 2018. This set out the department’s main policy objectives and how it will achieve them. Single Departmental Plans will be revised annually to reflect new priorities or changes in responsibilities.

Teaching Regulation Agency: Staff

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) staff and (b) full-time equivalent staff work on (i) payroll and (ii) non-payroll back-office functions in the Teaching Regulation Agency.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many payroll staff are employed in back-office functions in his Department; how many non-payroll staff are employed in back-office functions in his Department; and how many full-time equivalent (a) payroll and (b) non-payroll staff are employed in back office functions in his Department.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many payroll staff are employed in back-office functions in the Education and Skills Funding Agency; how many non-payroll staff are employed in back-office functions in the Education and Skills Funding Agency; and how many full-time equivalent (a) payroll and (b) non-payroll staff are employed in back-office functions in the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many payroll staff are employed in back-office functions in the Standards and Testing Agency; how many non-payroll staff are employed in back-office functions in the Standards and Testing Agency; and how many full-time equivalent (a) payroll and (b) non-payroll staff are employed in back office function in the Standards and Testing Agency.

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) staff and (b) full-time equivalent staff are employed in (i) payroll and (ii) non-payroll back-office functions in the School Teachers’ Review Body.

Anne Milton: Holding answer received on 25 June 2018



The number of payroll, non-payroll and full-time equivalent staff employed in back office functions (those functions that support the running of the department, such as Human Resources and Finance) is shown in the table attached.These figures include the Standards and Testing Agency, Education and Skills Funding Agency and Teaching Regulation Agency who are Department for Education staff.The School Teachers’ Review Body has no staff.



Number_of_back_office_staff_employed_by_department
(Word Document, 35.5 KB)

Social Mobility Commission: Staff

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) staff and (b) full-time equivalent staff are employed in (i) payroll and (ii) non-payroll back-office functions in the Social Mobility Commission.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) staff and (b) full-time equivalent staff are employed in (i) payroll and (ii) non-payroll back-office functions in the Office for the Schools Adjudicator.

Anne Milton: The Social Mobility Commission and the Office for the Schools Adjudicator do not employ any staff.

Office for Students: Data Protection

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether confidential personal information relating to (a) Higher Education personnel and (b) students may be provided by the Office for Students to (i) Pearson Limited, (ii) the HMRC, (iii) student loans company and (iv) other persons prescribed the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (Cooperation and Information Sharing) Regulations 2018.

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the  Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (Cooperation and Information Sharing) Regulations 2018, what data the Office for Students will be able to pass on to trading standards (weights and measures); and for what purpose that data will be used.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The purpose of Section 63(4) is to enable the Office for Students (OfS) to provide information to other specified bodies for the purposes of their own important functions, such as investigating fraud. Section 63 does not place limitations on the type of information that may be provided, and therefore it could include personal data. These regulations allow data sharing, they do not oblige it. In practice, the OfS considers that it is unlikely that personal data would routinely be shared with non-government bodies under these regulations. They are in place for circumstances where the OfS or the organisation has identified serious concerns (such as fraud or malpractice) by a provider or its students. The provision of any personal information must be in accordance with data protection legislation, (such as the General Data Protection Regulation) which imposes strict conditions on the processing of personal information. We understand that the OfS will publish its collaboration agreements with other bodies on its website and these will set out how the organisations will work together and whether there is also a data sharing agreement in place.

Pearson Group: Data Protection

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what conditions of use have been agreed with Pearson Ltd in relation to personal confidential data that company will receive under the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (Cooperation and Information Sharing) Regulations 2018.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Office for Students (OfS) will be able to share personal data with Pearson in their capacity as an awarding body. It is anticipated that this data will primarily be for the purposes of the assessment of the quality and standards of the provider’s provision or of its propriety relating to genuine students being registered by providers for the qualifications. When sharing this information the OfS is required to comply with data protection principles, and to have regard to its general duties under Section 2 of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, including regulating providers in a transparent, accountable, proportionate and consistent manner. We understand that the OfS will publish its collaboration agreements with other bodies on its website and these will set out how the organisations will work together and whether there is also a data sharing agreement in place.

Office for Students: Data Protection

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department consulted (a) universities (b) student bodies or (c) UCAS on the powers relating to personal confidential data awarded to the Office for Students under the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (Cooperation and Information Sharing) Regulations 2018.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Information sharing was noted in the consultation, ‘Securing student success: risk-based regulation for teaching excellence, social mobility and informed choice in higher education’ (P133, published 19 October 2017). Policy officials have worked closely with colleagues in the Office for Students (OfS) to determine what historical, and new, information sharing requirements may be required to ensure the OfS can do its job well, including protecting the interest of students and taxpayers. Officials and Ministers have regular meetings and interactions with universities and student bodies, and work closely with UCAS. Section 63 of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, which contains the powers under which the regulations are made, underwent parliamentary scrutiny as a Bill before it received Royal Assent.

Student Loans Company: Staff

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education,  how many (a)  payroll staff in back-office functions, (b) non-payroll staff in back-office functions there are in the Student Loans Company; and what the full-time equivalent is for payroll and non-payroll staff employed by that company.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The number of payroll and non-payroll in back-office functions within the Student Loans Company (SLC) are as follows: HeadcountFull Time EquivalentEmployee (Payroll)669649.95Contractors (Non-Payroll)1111Service Agreements* (Non-Payroll)392392 * Service Agreements refer to staff employed by a third party company, who have a contract to deliver work packages for the SLC. For the purposes of this question, we have defined ‘back-office functions’ to include HR, finance, legal and other corporate services, as well as staff responsible for IT change and development programmes.

Pupils: Hearing Impairment

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will meet representatives of the National Deaf Children's Society to discuss funding for deaf children's education.

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of recent changes in funding by local authorities to deaf children's education on the provision of such education.

Nadhim Zahawi: In relation to meeting with representatives of the National Deaf Children’s Society, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 4 June 2018 to Question UIN 146815.My officials will be in touch with the National Deaf Children’s Society in due course to discuss their recent report on local authority funding.In relation to assessing the recent changes in funding by local authorities to deaf children's education on the provision of such education, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 14 June 2018 to Question UIN 152124.

Children in Care and Homelessness: Coventry

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the number of (a) children in local authority care and (b) homeless people in Coventry.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Justice

Prisoners: Social Media

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what training is provided to prisoners on the use of social media; and under what programmes such training operates.

Rory Stewart: Holding answer received on 01 May 2018



Prison Governors are empowered to tailor and commission a range of education and training to meet the needs of their prisoners from their education providers and therefore this information is not held centrally. There would be significant practical difficulties for any governor aiming to commission education of this type. Most learning involves practising the new skills in order to embed them. That would be very difficult in any custodial setting where, in order to prevent prisoners contacting victims, witnesses and criminal associates, we make strenuous efforts to prevent access to social media.

Ministry of Justice: Serco

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department has paid to Serco for contracted services in each year since 2010.

Rory Stewart: The Ministry of Justice has direct contracts with Serco and in the case of the Private Finance Prisons(PFIs) that Serco are the custodial service provider, the Ministry of Justice has a contractual relationship with the relevant Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV). In our contracts directly with Serco the Ministry of Justice pays Serco directly and in the case of PFI prisons, the Ministry of Justice pays the relevant SPV who will then pay Serco as the operating subcontractor. A break-down of spend is as follows: Table 1 – All Serco Contracts including PFIsSupplier2010/112011/122012/132013/142014/152015/162016/172017/182018/19SERCO GROUP PLC£250.8£236.2m£264.8m£233.6m£255.1m£200.3m£200.1m£202.2m£39.6m Table 2 - Serco Contract Spend Excluding PFIs Supplier2010/112011/122012/132013/142014/152015/162016/172017/182018/19SERCO £140m£144.1m£137.4m£94.4m£110.6m£84.9m£80.4m£85.9m£5.8m Table 3 – Serco Contract Spend – PFI prisons only Supplier2010/112011/122012/132013/142014/152015/162016/172017/182018/19PFI Total Spend£110.8m£92.1m£127.5m£139.2m£144.5m£115.4m£119.7m£116.3m£33.8m

Prison Officers: Crimes of Violence

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officer work days have been lost to sickness as a result of an injury sustained in a workplace assault in each year since 2010.

Rory Stewart: Holding answer received on 25 June 2018



HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) is committed to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of its staff. HMPPS has systems in place to deal with perpetrators of violence against staff quickly and robustly, with serious incidents referred to the police for prosecution. The number of working days lost as a result of an injury sustained in a workplace assault specifically cannot be extracted from the data that is held. However the number of working days lost amongst band 3-5 prison officers due to sick reasons defined as work related accidents, injuries or assaults is shown in Table 1 below. This data is available in the quarterly HMPPS (formerly NOMS) workforce statistics. Table 1: Working days lost amongst band 3-5 prison officers due to sick reasons defined as work related accidents/injuries/assaults, 2009/10 to 2017/18 Financial yearNumber of working days lost due to work related accidents/injuries/assaults12009/1025,2462010/1137,3512011/1233,2872012/1330,0802013/1436,4402014/1543,9262015/1639,6522016/17224,0742017/18214,973 Notes: 1 Figures provided are based on records where sickness reasons are defined as work related injury/assault or work related accident/injury.2 Between January and March 2017, during migration of data to the Single Operating Platform, anUnder-recording of sickness absence records occurred. There is therefore likely to be an undercount of working days lost for the 12 months to 31 March 2017. Furthermore, investigations are ongoing regarding more recent sickness absence data so figures for the 12 months to 31 March 2018 should be treated with caution.

Personal Independence Payment: Merseyside

Conor McGinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications for personal independence payments that were refused at mandatory consideration were subsequently overturned at tribunal in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) Merseyside in (i) 2016-17 and (ii) 2017-18.

Lucy Frazer: The information requested is not held centrally. Latest figures indicate that since PIP was introduced, more than 3.1 million decisions have been made, and of these under 9% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned. The statistical record produced by the HM Courts & Tribunal Service computer system records numbers of appeals according to the category of benefit awarded, or not awarded, and the type of issue in dispute, but it will not necessarily identify appeals made specifically because applications for benefit were “refused at mandatory reconsideration”. No such statistical category exists. When a person appeals a decision on a benefit award, that person must first undergo the mandatory reconsideration process of the initial decision with the DWP, before they can appeal to the Tribunal. But the fact that an appeal is made does not necessarily mean the appellant must have been refused at mandatory reconsideration. An award may be made at a rate of payment lower than the appellant had sought. For example, Personal Independence Payment can be awarded for daily living and/or mobility components, and those components can be paid at either the standard, or enhanced, rate. Information about the number and outcomes of Social Security and Child Support appeals is published on gov.uk. The most recent statistics, for the period January to March 2018, published on 14 June, can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognitions-certificates-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2018 which include overturn rates for venues in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) Merseyside for that period.

Ministry of Justice: Procurement

Rachel Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps (a) his Department and (b) Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service are taking to ensure externally provided services are (i) competitively tendered and (ii) secure value for money.

Rory Stewart: The MoJ is subject to the Public Contract Regulations 2015. The Regulations set out clear parameters on when goods and services need to be procured through competitive tenders. The MoJ fully comply with the Regulations. The MoJ is subject to the Managing Public Money guidance. The guidance set out clear principles for investment decisions, including maximisation of value for money. The MoJ Accounting Officer fully complies with the guidance principles and reports any exception as stated by the guidance. For competitive tenders, when practical, the MoJ awards contracts to the most economically advantageous or lowest priced tender to secure value for money.

Sentencing: Females

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women were sentenced to prison for (a) three months and (b) six months for each Home office offence code in 2017.

Edward Argar: The number of women sentenced to prison for (a) three months and (b) six months for each Home Office offence code in 2017 can be viewed in the table attached.



Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 15.67 KB)

Feltham Young Offender Institution

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of hours per week was of (a) taught education and (b) vocational training provided to children held in the segregation block at HM Young Offenders Institution, Feltham in each month in 2018.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of hours per week was of (a) taught education and (b) vocational training provided to children held in the segregation block at HM Young Offenders Institution, Feltham in (i) 2015, ii) 2016, (iii) 2017 and (iv) 2018.

Edward Argar: Good education in and out of the classroom and purposeful activity are the key to unlocking a secure and stable future for young people and I am determined to drive forward our comprehensive reforms so that young people are equipped with the skills to live successful, crime-free lives on release. The information requested is not collected and could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.

Prisoners' Release: West Midlands

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to support prisoners on release in the West Midlands.

Rory Stewart: We have given providers the flexibility to innovate and do what works to tailor rehabilitative support to the particular needs of offenders. Through-the-gate (TTG) resettlement services delivered by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) mean that virtually all prisoners have access to targeted support to help them find accommodation and employment on release, and advice on finance, benefits and debt. For the West Midlands in particular, Staffordshire and West Midlands CRC have put in place joint case conferencing with partners to determine TTG services in the most complex cases. This ensures continuity of service for the individual leaving prison. Offenders who are assessed as posing a higher risk of serious harm receive support and supervision from the National Probation Service and may be required to reside in Approved Premises on release from custody.

Department for Exiting the European Union

European Economic Area

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, on what date the UK will cease to be a member of the EEA.

Mr Robin Walker: The UK is a party to the EEA Agreement by virtue of its membership of the EU. In the absence of any further action, the EEA Agreement will no longer operate in respect of the UK when we leave the EU in March 2019. However, at the March European Council we agreed with the EU that the UK is to be treated as a Member State for the purposes of international agreements for the duration of the implementation period. The EU will notify other parties of this approach in due course. This includes the EEA Agreement, which governs crucial elements of our trading and non-trading relationship with the three EEA EFTA states - Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Once the implementation period ends, the EEA Agreement will no longer apply to the UK. We will instead seek to put in place new arrangements to secure our relationship with the EEA EFTA states.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Homelessness: Cornwall

Scott Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that assistance and accommodation is in place for homeless people in Cornwall.

Nigel Adams: The Government remains committed to combating homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why we are aiming to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminate it altogether by 2027.We have implemented the most ambitious reforms in homelessness legislation in decades, the Homelessness Reduction Act which commenced in April 2018. The Act significantly reforms England’s homelessness legislation, ensuring that more people get the help they need earlier to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place. To achieve this, we have set up a Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce that will focus on prevention and affordable housing.We are supporting 48 projects through our £20 million Rough Sleeping Grant, with £470,000 awarded to the Nos Da project in Cornwall for services to work in partnership and prevent people from sleeping rough through identifying those at risk as well as assisting people into emergency accommodation.

Social Rented Housing: Construction

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what proportion of the homes developed on surplus public land which has been sold off as part of the Public Land for Housing Programme is social housing.

Dominic Raab: Holding answer received on 25 June 2018



Ordnance Survey has been commissioned to monitor the progress of sites sold through both the 2011-15 and 2015-20 Public Land for Housing Programmes and is gathering information on the planned number of affordable homes, which will be made available in due course. Decisions on affordable housing provision are taken at a local level according to local need.

Derelict Land: Coventry

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support local authorities in Coventry that have a shortage of brownfield sites with exemptions under the proposals for the National Plan.

Dominic Raab: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

CCTV: Southwark

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much has been spend by the London Borough of Southwark on (a) installing and (b) maintaining CCTV cameras in each of the last seven years.

Rishi Sunak: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

CCTV

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to increase funding for local authorities to install and maintain CCTV cameras; and if he will make a statement.

Rishi Sunak: The Department does not provide specific funding to councils for CCTV camera installation. Over this spending period we have made available over £200 billion in funding for councils to spend on locally determined priorities. Councils are independent of central Government and are responsible for managing their budgets in line with local priorities.

Housing: Greater London

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many rape complainants have been rehoused in (a) the constituency of Camberwell and Peckham, (b) the London Borough of Southwark, and (c) Greater London in each of the last seven years.

Nigel Adams: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Rented Housing

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the letter from the Minister for Housing and Homelessness, reference 3677980 on support for for landlords to offer longer tenancies where they are wanted, whether local authorities will be provided with the flexibility to retain secure tenancies as standard in local Tenancy Strategies, under the responsibilities conveyed by the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Housing and Planning Act 2016 includes provision for regulations to set out the circumstances in which local authorities will have discretion to continue to grant lifetime tenancies.

System Building: Safety

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance has his Department has issued to local authorities on the safety of Large Panel System structures.

James Brokenshire: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Defence

Capita and Serco

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what external advice his Department has received on the financial health and risk of (a) Capita and (b) Serco.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has processes in place to routinely monitor the financial health of all its major suppliers, including Capita and Serco, drawing on both internal analysis and external, open-source financial information.The MOD also works closely with colleagues in the Cabinet Office and other Government Departments to monitor risk across the Government's supplier base.

Navy: Scotland

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times Royal Navy (a) Type 23 frigates and (b) Type 45 destroyers have made port calls in Scotland in each year since 2013.

Mark Lancaster: From available records the number of Royal Navy Type 23 Frigates and Type 45 Destroyers that made port calls in Scotland in each calendar year since 2013 is as follows:  Type 23Type 4520139320142220156420169220171232018 (to 19 June)61 This data represents the number of port calls made in Scotland, not the number of nights or days in ports in Scotland.

Trafalgar Class Submarines

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what storage locations have been identified for the three Trafalgar class submarines when they come out of service.

Guto Bebb: The intent is to store the remaining three Trafalgar Class submarines, when they are decommissioned, at Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport prior to dismantling under the Submarine Dismantling Project.

Armed Forces: Housing

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many personnel from each Service have successfully applied for the Tenancy Deposit Loan scheme in each year since it was launched.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The number of Armed Forces personnel who have successfully applied for, and received, a Tenancy Deposit Loan in each financial year, broken down by Service, is as follows: Financial Year 2015-162016-172017-18ROYAL NAVY312510ARMY583629ROYAL AIR FORCE442622

Ministry of Defence: Engineers

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to (a) recruit and (b) retain more engineers.

Mark Lancaster: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 June 2018 to Question 153253 to the hon. Member for Hendon (Dr Offord).



153253 - Armed Forces: Recruitment
(Word Document, 22.28 KB)

RAF Marham

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made in adapting the facilities at RAF Marham to support the new F35 B fighter jets; and what assessment he has made of readiness for deployment of those jets.

Guto Bebb: The Ministry of Defence has invested £300 million to prepare RAF Marham for the F-35 Lightning jets, including resurfacing the second runway with little to no impact on Tornado operations. All elements of the infrastructure programme at RAF Marham are expected to be completed to meet programme needs.The first four UK F-35 Lightning jets arrived at RAF Marham on 6 June 2018, two months ahead of schedule, 617 Squadron will continue their operational work-up training in readiness for their Initial Operating Capability, which is expected to be reached by the end of this year.

Armed Forces: Recruitment

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to advertise, facilitate and streamline the recruitment process for school leavers to meet armed forces recruitment targets.

Mark Lancaster: The Armed Forces do not recruit directly in schools. They do engage with schools, at the invitation of Headteachers, in order to increase awareness of the role of the Armed Forces in society and to support delivery of aspects of the curriculum - most notably Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). There is no recruitment process specifically for school leavers. We keep our recruitment processes under review to ensure they are efficient and effective.Young people need to be supported with information about the opportunities and options available to them as they reach significant educational milestones, including on reaching school leaving age. This is reflected in the marketing initiatives of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force. Joining the Armed Forces continues to be an excellent choice for young people today, and they are the UK's largest apprenticeship provider.The Ministry of Defence welcomes the Department for Education's Careers Strategy and the greater prominence being given to vocational routes and STEM related careers. The Armed Forces are well placed to support schools in meeting the aims of that strategy and encourage them to contact their local units and Armed Forces Recruiting Offices for support.

D-Day Landings: Anniversaries

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on plans for the joint UK - French commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings; and what steps he is taking to encourage veterans to attend those events.

Mark Lancaster: The D-Day landings and Normandy Campaign are a significant part of our history and I can confirm that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) will be fully supporting the 75th anniversary, both at home and abroad. Plans are currently at an early stage but we are working closely with The Royal British Legion and other organisations to determine how best to recognise and support the D-Day veterans, whilst commemorating their fallen colleagues. For instance, in June this year a joint announcement between the MOD and The Royal British Legion took place to encourage veterans to register their interest in attending D-Day75 events so that commemorations could be designed around their own wishes. The MOD will unveil more details about D-Day75 via the gov.uk website in due course.

United Kingdom Hydrographic Office

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of marine technologies supported by the UK Hydrographic Office to the economy.

Mark Lancaster: An assessment was conducted by the Cabinet Office as part of the Government's commitment to establish the Geospatial Commission, of which the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) is one of six partner agencies. The assessment, calculated according to HM Treasury's Green Book guidelines and by a bottom-up economic analysis of the opportunities in the public and private sectors concluded that significant economic growth could be generated by unlocking UK geospatial resources, including marine data. As the Government's authority for marine geospatial data, the UKHO is working in partnership with the Geospatial Commission to identify options to support economic growth.

Eastern Europe: Military Alliances

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he discussed future bilateral defence agreements with the countries of East-Central Europe after the UK leaves the EU at his recent meeting with the Polish Deputy Minister for National Defence.

Mark Lancaster: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence met with his Polish counter-part in Warsaw for the Quadriga (meeting of Foreign and Defence Secretaries) on 21 June 2018, where the Polish Deputy Minister for National Defence was also present. They discussed a range of topics covering the bilateral defence relationship between the two countries. The Secretary of State set out the UK's unconditional commitment to European security. The UK has made clear to Allies it wants defence cooperation after the UK leaves the EU to include working together on operations and missions and the development of capabilities in the future.

Armed Forces: Deployment

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential speed and efficiency of the deployment of the armed forces in the event of conflict in East-Central Europe.

Mark Lancaster: We do not comment in detail on military planning but I can confirm that the UK holds units at high readiness able to deploy at short notice should the Government decide to do so.In the NATO context, the Alliance has taken a series of decisions to improve the speed and efficiency of its response to any potential crisis. For example, a decision at the Wales Summit in 2014 established the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (which the UK led in 2017) as a spearheaded element of the NATO Response Force.At its Summit in July we expect the Alliance to agree a Readiness Initiative and work to improve Military Mobility that will further strengthen NATO's capabilities.

Defence: Procurement

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average offset value has been to UK companies of each defence procurement contract over the last five years.

Guto Bebb: The Ministry of Defence does not use offsets in defence procurement as they are not permitted under European Union procurement law.

Ministry of Defence: Policy

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the main policy priority is for his Department for 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Gavin Williamson: The Ministry of Defence published an updated Single Departmental Plan on 23 May 2018. This set out the Department's main policy objectives and how it will achieve them. Single Departmental Plans will be revised annually to reflect new priorities or changes in responsibilities.

Department for Work and Pensions

Children: Maintenance

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many calls were made to the Child Maintenance Service telephone line in each of the last  three years.

Kit Malthouse: This information is not published externally however is collated internally and has been provided for context only.  CMS inbound number 0800 171 2345Calls Offered15/161,546,00516/172,440,00417/182,873,130  CMG publish data externally with regards to the current CMS caseload which adds context to the volume of calls received. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-maintenance-service-aug-2013-to-mar-2018-experimental Call volumes are increasing at a lower rate than the CMS caseload.

Children: Maintenance

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps have been taken to ensure that service users are able to access the Child Maintenance Service in a timely manner.

Kit Malthouse: New customers access the Child Maintenance Service by telephone contact whilst existing customers have a choice of telephony or self-service for a number of transactions. Every six months we formally review the numbers of people working at key points during our operating hours to ensure we have the right number of people available to answer customer calls, and our most recent review was completed at the beginning on June. This is in line with the approach taken for all services provided by DWP. As you would expect we undertake periodic upgrades to our systems but endeavour to keep customer impact to a minimum and ensure that they have adequate notice. Lastly, occasionally, the Child Maintenance Service is subject to unplanned system down time we have robust internal processes in place to minimise the period of disruption.

Child Maintenance Service

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the operational hours are of the Child Maintenance Service's call centres; and if she will publish those operational hours on the Child Maintenance Service's website.

Kit Malthouse: The Operational hours for Child Maintenance Service are 08:00 to 19:30 Monday to Friday and 09:00 to 16:30 on Saturday. However we also have a self service portal which is available 24 hours a day https://childmaintenanceservice.direct.gov.uk/public/  In addition we share the opening time with customers through our automated telephony messages and during Child Maintenance Options and Child Maintenance application conversations. We will give consideration to having these published on the CMS Direct.gov website, in line with other operational priorities.

Work Capability Assessment: Appeals

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of appeals against work capability assessments were upheld in the last calendar year.

Sarah Newton: Table 17 of the publication “ESA: outcomes of Work Capability Assessments including mandatory reconsiderations and appeals: June 2018” provides statistics on appeal outcomes for ESA WCA decisions, by period of claim start, from October 2013 up to September 2017, a copy of which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/esa-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessments-including-mandatory-reconsiderations-and-appeals-june-2018

Stress: Employment

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to tackle stress in the workplace.

Sarah Newton: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for work-related stress policy as the regulator for health and safety at work in Great Britain. Employers have a legal duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all their employees. To do this, employers must assess the risks from workplace hazards, including work-related stress, and take all reasonably practicable steps to remove or reduce identified risks. HSE provides advice, guidance and tools (the HSE Stress Management Standards) that employers can use to meet these requirements for work-related stress. Recognising the high levels of work related stress in the public sector, HSE is currently supporting pilots in the education, prison and hospital sectors aimed at developing improved approaches to tackling this issue. These pilots form part of HSE’s engagement with employers, trades unions and the wider health and safety community, where HSE aims to work in partnership to reduce the number of new cases of ill health caused by work-related stress and to integrate their work into the Government’s wider agenda on supporting the mental wellbeing of the working population. Further details of HSE’s activity can be found at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/strategiesandplans/sector-health-plans.htm.

Occupational Pensions: Greater London

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have a work-place pension as a result of auto-enrolment in (a) Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency (b) London Borough of Bexley and (c) London.

Guy Opperman: Since 2012 in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency, approximately 5,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled.Since 2012 in the London Borough of Bexley, approximately 16,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and in London, approximately 1,892,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled.Automatic enrolment is a great success story with more than 9.7 million workers enrolled into pensions saving and over 1.2 million employers meeting their duties.

Independent Case Examiner: Complaints

Emma Dent Coad: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2018 to Question 146989 on Independent Case Examiner, whether his Department has performance measures for the time taken to conclude investigations into complaints escalated to the Independent Case Examiner (ICE); and what steps are being taken to reduce the time taken for the ICE to make a decision.

Kit Malthouse: The performance measures for the Independent Case Examiner’s Office and their achievement against those measures are published on their Gov.UK webpage.  In recognition of the demand-led nature of the service provided by the Office, there is no performance measure for the time complaints wait to be brought into investigation. The Office has been allocated additional resource for the 2018/19 reporting year which should improve overall waiting times.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints her Department has received from people affected by legislative changes in 1995 and 2011 to the women's state pension age.

Guy Opperman: The number of complaints received and investigated from August 2016 to May 2018 is 7835.

Support for Mortgage Interest

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect on rates of poverty of the introduction of loans for Support for Mortgage Interest.

Kit Malthouse: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 27 March 2018 to Question 133903 (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-03-22/133903/ )

Personal Independence Payment

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any errors have been identified recently in the calculation of entitlement to benefits consequential on entitlement to personal independence payment.

Sarah Newton: Please see the response provided to PQ 155836 that was tabled on 20 June 2018.

Personal Independence Payment

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the calculation of entitlements to benefits consequential on entitlements to personal independence payment.

Sarah Newton: All social security benefits, including Personal Independence Payment are discussed regularly across Government, including the calculation of entitlement.

Personal Independence Payment

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether deficiencies have been identified recently in the calculation of people's entitlement to personal independence payments.

Sarah Newton: Please see the response provided to PQ 155836 that was tabled on 20 June 2018.

Universal Credit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 1.3.8 of the universal credit full service survey, published in June 2018, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that groups identified as faring less well under universal credit are better supported.

Alok Sharma: Through our Universal Support programme, the Department provides support for claimants with budgeting, or with using digital services. Support is delivered through local partners, and we also work with a range of stakeholders to ensure claimants can access other forms of support including housing, debt advice, low energy tariffs and passported benefits. We also have a freephone helpline for Universal Credit claimants who need help to make and maintain their claim, and they can also receive help in a jobcentre. Additionally, a home visit can also be arranged.

Universal Credit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what reference to chapter eight of the universal credit full service survey, published in June 2018, what steps she plans to take to improve the rate of satisfaction among claimants claiming childcare costs through universal credit.

Alok Sharma: Interviews for the Universal Credit Full Service survey were conducted with claimants between March 2017 and September 2017. Since then, in response to evidence and feedback, DWP continues to make changes to improve the experience to claimants. For example, since 28th February 2018, Universal Credit claimants have been able to upload digital copies of their childcare cost receipts or invoices through their online Universal Credit account. Improvements in Universal credit IT have also meant that most claimants reporting their in month childcare costs are not asked to provide further evidence and are paid automatically with their UC award.

Social Security Benefits: Scotland

Martin Whitfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the value is of outstanding benefit (a) over-payments and (b) fraud debts to be transferred to the Scottish government when social security powers are devolved to that government.

Kit Malthouse: Current data shows that the total value of outstanding benefit overpayments to be devolved to the Scottish Government is £29.3m. Of this total, £5.4m has been classified as fraud. The actual amounts devolved to the Scottish Government will be subject to the value at the point of transfer and accounting agreements between the two governments.

Social Security Benefits: Scotland

Martin Whitfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants in Scotland have an outstanding benefit (a) overpayment or (b) fraud debt to be recovered by her Department.

Kit Malthouse: Current data shows that in Scotland there are approximately 121,000 claimants with an outstanding benefit overpayment. Of this total, approximately 8,000 are classified as fraud related overpayments.

Jobcentres: Easington

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2018 to Question 153800, whether any data protection issues have been identified at Jobcentre Plus offices in the Easington constituency.

Kit Malthouse: DWP is not aware of any data protection issues that have been identified at Jobcentre Plus offices in the Easington constituency.

Universal Credit: Blackburn

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have waited for longer than five weeks to receive their first payment of universal credit in Blackburn.

Alok Sharma: The Department’s data on Universal Credit payment timeliness is not currently available for publication by area or region.Our latest research shows that nationally, around 80% of new claims are paid in full and on time. The Department’s internal data shows that for those cases where full payment has not been made, around a sixth have not signed their Claimant Commitment or passed identity checks, and the others have outstanding verification issues such as housing, self-employed earnings and childcare costs. Many of these claimants receive a part payment for those elements of the claim that have been verified.

Universal Credit

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the saving to the public purse as a result of the roll-out of universal credit.

Alok Sharma: The forecasted exchequer savings (minus figure indicates a saving) from the introduction of Universal Credit are provided in the table below* -18/1919/2020/2121/2222/23Net effect on Welfare Spending - SS18 (£b)-0.2-0.5-0.5-0.7-1.0 * The figures are taken from table 2.22 in the excel document, ‘March 2018 Economic and fiscal outlook – supplementary fiscal tables: expenditure’, which can be accessed at http://obr.uk/efo/economic-fiscal-outlook-march-2018/  This forecast is produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility who set out their methdology in the Welfare Trends Report published in January 2018. The full report and accompanying data is available here: http://obr.uk/wtr/welfare-trends-report-january-2018/ Universal Credit will deliver an overall reduction in welfare spending of £3.6bn per year, savings associated with reduced fraud and error of £1.3bn per year, and employment gains of £1.8bn per year. Once in steady state, we expect Universal Credit to generate wider economic benefits of £8bn per annum, as set out in the published Universal Credit Business Case.

Department for Work and Pensions: Complaints

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish an (a) email address and (b) freepost address for the public to make formal complaints to her Department.

Alok Sharma: The DWP complaints process is available on Gov.uk and customers can contact DWP through a number of routes, by phone, in person or in writing if they are unhappy about their DWP service. We encourage our customers, in the first instance, to raise their concerns with the part of the business they have been dealing with, as many concerns can be resolved at this point. As customers are required to provide a national insurance number, full name and address to allow the query to be directed to the correct area of the business, we do not provide an email address as email is not a secure method of communication. Gov.uk has a portal facility which allows Jobseeker’s Allowance and Universal Credit customers to make a complaint, the portal does not ask for an email address. As there are a number of ways to contact DWP to make a complaint, the Department does not provide freepost envelopes for customers.

Personal Independence Payment: Diabetes

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason an automatic insulin pump is not classified as an (a) aid or (b) appliance for monitoring a health condition in relation to the award of points under descriptor 3 for a claim for a personal independence payment.

Sarah Newton: Personal Independence Payment Activity 3, managing therapy or monitoring a health condition, does not contain a descriptor that covers the use of aids and appliances for monitoring a health condition. However, an automatic insulin pump could be considered an aid under the descriptor that covers the use of aids and appliances for managing medication.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Multi-agency Flood Plan Review

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Written Ministerial Statement of 3 November 2017, whether the Multi-Agency Flood Plan Review will be completed at the end of May 2018; and what the timetable is for the review to be published.

David Rutley: I can confirm that the review has been published this month.

Birds: Conservation

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will add swifts to (a) Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the (b) UK Biodiversity Action Plan list of priority species.

David Rutley: All wild birds, including swifts, are protected through the provisions of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which provides a powerful framework for the conservation of wild birds, their eggs, nests and habitats. There is no clear evidence that swift populations would benefit from the additional special penalties Schedule 1 birds are protected by, therefore the Government has no plans to add the swift to the Schedule at the current time. Biodiversity is a devolved issue. The list of priority species in England is kept under review by Natural England and there are no plans to amend it to include the swift. The list consists of ‘species of principal conservation importance’ under the 2006 Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act; the UK Biodiversity Action Plan is no longer in place. The priority species list is not the only means of informing action for species conservation in England. The swift has now been identified as an amber listed species in the UK Birds of Conservation Concern, which we would take into account in planning conservation action.

Water: Conservation

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to encourage the collection, storage and use of rainwater in (a) commercial and (b) residential properties.

David Rutley: The 25 Year Environment Plan sets out our ambitions to improve water efficiency. We have committed to work with the water industry to agree what cost effective measures, including rainwater storage, are required to improve water efficiency for both commercial and residential properties.

Housing: Insulation

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) builders and (b) homeowners receive guidance on legislation relating to (a) nesting birds and (b) the protection of nests during the breeding season.

David Rutley: Natural England provides guidance in its publication ‘Wild Birds: Surveys and mitigation for development projects’ to help builders and planners assess the impacts of developments on wild birds.

Bridleways

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to increase the number of bridleways.

David Rutley: We currently do not have plans to increase the number of bridleways. We do plan, however, to implement a package of reforms to the way that rights of way are recorded on the definitive map and statement, which is the local authority’s legal record on public rights of way. We envisage that this will result in an increase in the number of bridleways shown on the definitive map and statement as being available for use by the public.

Roads: Litter

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Transport, (b) Highways England, (c) the Road Haulage Association and (d) the Freight Transport Association on preventing and removing roadside litter.

David Rutley: The Litter Strategy for England contains commitments to work with Highways England and others to tackle litter on the roadside, and to work with local councils, ports and the haulage industry to improve facilities for hauliers, fishing vessels and others to dispose of their litter and waste.Defra Ministers have met their Department for Transport counterparts to discuss these issues and agree measures to reduce and remove litter from the Strategic Road Network. Highways England was also represented at these meetings.Defra Ministers also raised the issue of litter at a meeting with the Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association in January this year, and the Department has written to both organisations following the introduction of new local authority powers to tackle littering from vehicles in April this year.

Agriculture: Environment Protection

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how his Department plans to use payments to land managers in the proposed environment land management scheme to support the creation of the Nature Recovery Network as outlined in his Department's 25 Year Environment Plan.

David Rutley: In the 25 Year Environment Plan we committed to considering delivery options for the Nature Recovery Network over the next two years, as we develop and pilot our new environmental land management scheme and investigate the use of other new and innovative funding mechanisms. Funding for collaborative projects, incentivising land managers to work together to secure environmental improvements at landscape and catchment level, was identified as a potential element of the future scheme.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has had any discussions with counterparts in the devolved administrations on the outcome of the Bovine TB consultation on proposals to introduce licensed badger control in the Low Risk Area (England).

George Eustice: We regularly meet and engage with Devolved Administrations to discuss bovine TB. The outcome of the bovine TB consultation on proposals to introduce licensed badger control in the Low Risk Area of England has been discussed with Devolved Administrations and with Devolved Administration Chief Veterinary Officers.

Recreation Spaces: Coventry

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) protect and (b) invest in green spaces in Coventry.

David Rutley: The 25 year environment plan, published earlier this year, sets out Government’s commitment to ‘green’ our towns and cities by creating more green infrastructure and planting one million trees in and around our towns and cities. We want to encourage more investment in green infrastructure, in part by doing a better job of explaining what ‘good’ green infrastructure actually looks like. A first step will be to define a set of green infrastructure standards in close consultation with experts, including the Parks Action Group, which is led by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. In addition, Defra and Natural England will continue to support the Parks Action Group in its work to help England’s public parks and green spaces meet the needs of communities now and in the future.

Home Office

Trauma: Counselling

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the merits of introducing a state-funded national resilience programme to provide people with counselling and support in the aftermath of a terrorist attack or other traumatic event.

Mr Ben Wallace: There are no plans to introduce a state-funded national resilience programme. The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with NHS England and others to support local areas to respond appropriately to the mental health needs of victims of terrorism. People affected can access existing NHS mental health services via GPs and local Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services. There are also locally agreed arrangements for children and young people, with schools able to provide support or referrals to local services. These mental health services have staff trained to deliver evidence based treatment for conditions such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress. To ensure that victims of terrorism receive the support and assistance they need, we established a cross-HMG Victims of Terrorism unit to co-ordinate support to those directly affected by terrorist events at home or overseas. Comprehensive information on support services providing emotional, practical and mental health support is available at victimsofterrorism.campaign.gov.uk

Visas: Applications

Conor McGinn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for further leave to remain in the UK were received before an applicant’s current visa expiry date but completed by her Department after this date in each year since 2010.

Caroline Nokes: The data requested is not captured in a form that can be reported digitally. To answer the question would require individual scrutiny of all applications within the period quoted. This would incur disproportionate cost to the public purse.

Slavery

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2018 to Question 129973 on Slavery, for what reasons an extension of support for victims of trafficking will not be automatic until (a) her Department publishes its updated guidance on discretionary leave to remain and (b) a decision has been made on those cases in accordance with that updated guidance.

Victoria Atkins: In line with standard practice, support providers under the Victim Care Contract can seek an extension of support for confirmed victims who are awaiting a discretionary leave decision.Whilst we consider next steps, interim guidance has been issued to caseworkers to put on hold any refusals of discretionary leave to remain decisions for confirmed victims of modern slavery. Grants of discretionary leave are continuing. This guidance is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/interim-operation-guidance-discretionary-leave-for-victims-of-modern-slavery

Crimes of Violence: Disclosure of Information

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the news article entitled Amber Rudd denies seeing leaked Home Office violent crime report, published by the Guardian on Monday 9 April 2018, whether her private office viewed the leaked report mentioned in that article before publishing the Serious Violence Strategy.

Victoria Atkins: The former Home Secretary made clear at the launch of the Serious Violence Strategy on 9 April that the Guardian had not shared the leaked document with us and so was unable to verify if she had seen that particular report. However, she had seen analysis from Home Office officials as the strategy and its underlying evidence developed.

Crimes of Violence: Disclosure of Information

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department,with reference to the news article entitled Amber Rudd denies seeing leaked Home Office violent crime report, published by the Guardian on Monday 9 April 2018, for what reason analysis produced by the Home Office on the effect of the reduction in police resources on serious violence was omitted from the Serious Violence Strategy.

Victoria Atkins: As the Home Secretary made clear at the launch of the Serious Violence Strategy on 9 April the Guardian had not shared the leaked document with us and so she was unable to verify if she had seen that particular report. However, she had seen analysis from Home Office officials as the strategy and its underlying evidence developed.The Strategy sets out the evidence upon which we have based our response. The reasons behind the increase in violent crime are complex and multi-faceted. The Strategy makes clear that the evidence shows that enforcement can play a vital role in tackling these offences, but big shifts in crime trends tend to be driven by factors outside of the police’s control – like drug trends and markets, changes in housing and vehicle security. Available evidence suggests this latest shift in serious violence is no exception. The final analysis is set out in Chapter One of the Strategy.

UK Visas and Immigration: Staff

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to her oral contribution of 16 April 2018, Official Report, column 27, on Windrush Children (Immigration Status), how many staff she plans to deploy to the dedicated team to help people to evidence their right to be here and to access the necessary services.

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to her oral contribution of 16 April 2018, Official Report, column 27, on Windrush Children (Immigration Status), how she plans to recruit staff to work in the dedicated team to help people to evidence their right to be here and to access the necessary services.

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to her oral contribution of 16 April 2018, Official Report, column 27, on Windrush Children (Immigration Status), whether the staff she plans to deploy to the dedicated team to help people to evidence their right to reside in the UK and to access the necessary services will be (a) new Civil Service recruits or (b) reassigned from within her Department.

Caroline Nokes: The Taskforce currently consists of approximately 150 staff, who have been seconded from a number of areas of UKVI, including Premium Service Centre, Citizenship, Work and Study commands. Of these around two thirds deal with the casework elements of the process. The remainder run the helpline and associated outreach work. We are carefully monitoring the impact that the secondments are having on the business as usual areas that the staff came from and are considering what the shape of a long-term unit for this work may take.

Immigration: Caribbean

John Spellar: o ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when Ministers of her Department first were made aware of immigration status difficulties affecting the Windrush generation; and what steps they took as a result.

Caroline Nokes: The Department was made aware of the immigration status difficulties of individual cases, as flagged by members of the House and the media. The wider issue around the immigration status difficulties affecting some of the Windrush generation has come to the fore, and the attention of Ministers, in recent months. On the 16 April we set up a Taskforce to help those affected get documents they need and on 30 May, the Windrush Scheme came into force. This Scheme is designed to ensure that members of this generation, their children born in the UK and those who arrived in the UK as minors will be able to apply for citizenship, or various other immigration products, free of charge.

Immigration: Caribbean

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what date a Minister in her Department approved the destruction of the Windrush landing cards.

Caroline Nokes: No decision was taken to destroy ‘Windrush migrant’ information specifically and records were not categorised as being related to a ‘Windrush migrant’ or the ‘Windrush generation’. Any Windrush papers would have been destroyed in line with the retention and disposal periods set for the wider records collections in which they were located.In regards to landing cards specifically, although there was provision in the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 to make a requirement for Commonwealth citizens to complete landing cards, this was never implemented. Landing cards were not required for the vast majority of nationals of Independent Commonwealth Countries until the implementation of the Immigration Act 1971. A very small number of cards were completed by Immigration officers for small cohorts of these nationals.

Immigration: Caribbean

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what date the Windrush landing cards were destroyed.

Caroline Nokes: No decision was taken to destroy ‘Windrush migrant’ information specifically and records were not categorised as being related to a ‘Windrush migrant’ or the ‘Windrush generation’. Any Windrush papers would have been destroyed in line with the retention and disposal periods set for the wider records collections in which they were located.In regards to landing cards specifically, although there was provision in the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 to make a requirement for Commonwealth citizens to complete landing cards, this was never implemented. Landing cards were not required for the vast majority of nationals of Independent Commonwealth Countries until the implementation of the Immigration Act 1971. A very small number of cards were completed by Immigration officers for small cohorts of these nationals.

Home Office: Written Questions

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to Questions 136120 and 136440 tabled for a named day on 17 and 18 April 2018 respectively.

Caroline Nokes: UIN 136120 was answered on 10th May 2018 and UIN 136440 was answered on 26th June 2018.

Crime: Victims

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many victims of crime have been reported to his Department in each of the last five years; and how many of those people were victims of domestic violence.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Crime and Policing Analysis Unit (CPAU) in the Home Office collect information on the number of notifiable offences that have been reported to and recorded by the police. CPAU have also collected information on whether an offence was domestic abuse-related since April 2015.This information is published by the Office for National Statistics in their quarterly statistical bulletin ‘Crime in England and Wales’. The most recently published data for all notifiable offences can be found in Appendix Table A4 available here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingdecember2017/relateddataInformation on domestic abuse-related offences for the year ending December 2017 can be found in Table F5 in the ‘Other related tables’ from the same link. Data for the previous year can be found in the December 2016 release.

Windrush Generation: Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 2 May 2018 to Question 136300, what steps his Department is taking to obtain the information of the number of Windrush citizens who have been (a) denied and (b) charged for NHS treatment.

Caroline Nokes: Information about Windrush individuals who have been denied or charged for NHS treatment is not held by the Home Office. Decisions on eligibility for free NHS treatment are taken by individual NHS Trusts. Eligibility for free NHS treatment is principally based on being ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK, meaning, broadly, living here on a lawful and properly settled basis for the time being. Those from the Windrush generation who settled in the UK prior to 1 January 1973 will be ordinarily resident in the UK as long as they are currently properly settled here.We set up a task force in April to help people from the Windrush generation to evidence their status. The Home Office will be notifying NHS Trusts in situations where individuals are issued with documentation by the task force. This is so that the NHS trust can consider if a charge for NHS treatment was applied incorrectly and requires cancellation. The Home Office has introduced additional safeguards to ensure those from the Windrush generation are not adversely affected by measures designed to protect benefits and services. I have chaired a cross-Whitehall meeting with relevant departments, including the Department of Health, to ensure we are all taking the relevant steps to protect the Windrush generation.

Home Office: Written Questions

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to respond to the Named Day Question 129506, tabled on 23 February 2018, tabled by the hon. Member for Sefton Central.

Victoria Atkins: This question was answered on the 5th June 2018.

Home Office: Staff

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the overtime accrued by staff in his Department working on the Windrush task force in each of the last four weeks.

Caroline Nokes: The Department has not estimated the overtime accrued by Taskforce staff.There are over 150 people undertaking a variety of working patterns on the Taskforce helpline, booking appointments, making call backs and handling cases. The Department offers staff flexible working arrangements, with staff having the choice of working additional hours, or varying their usual working patterns; and the option to receive overtime payments or accruing time off in lieu.

Home Office: Staff

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the limits for (a) overnight accommodation, (b) travel expenses and (c) per diem entitlements are for staff on the Windrush taskforce who have been redeployed from their normal place of work.

Caroline Nokes: The rules governing travel and expenses are contained in the department’s travel and subsistence policy and the Civil Service management code.The Department meets the full cost of authorised overnight accommodation, travel and per diem expenses, actually and necessarily incurred by its staff on official business up to the following limits:a) Bed and breakfast at max. £125 per night or max. £90 per night (outside London)b) Travel expenses: travel bookings must be standard class and booked as far in advance as possible to take advantage of the cheapest fares; mileage, which is paid at the rate of 23.8p a mile (public transport rate) or, if there is no public transport available, 40p a mile c) The per diem is paid against verified receipts, and covers necessarily incurred additional expenditure (excludes alcohol) at the following rates:• Over 5 hours: up to £4.25• Over 10 hours: up to £9.30• Over 24 hours: up to £26.00

Home Office: Staff

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff from the Home Office in Liverpool have been transferred to work on the Windrush taskforce in another Home Office location; and what each of those locations is.

Caroline Nokes: The Department has deployed 68 staff from Liverpool to support the work of the Windrush Taskforce; of those 66 staff have been deployed to Croydon and two to Solihull.

Windrush Generation: Immigration

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average wait time is for (a) appointments and (b) final decision for Windrush cases at each of the Home Office premium service location.

Caroline Nokes: The waiting time for appointments differs between the premium service centres, depending on the volume of applicants. In some locations appointments are available immediately. The Croydon centre is the busiest of the centres and the waiting time for appointments is currently three weeks.The majority of applications are decided on the day of the appointment.

Windrush Generation: Biometrics

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of new biometric permits that have been issued to people from the Windrush generation to date.

Caroline Nokes: As at 21st May 2018, the Home Office had confirmed the status of 806 applicants and either issued Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) or arranged for BRPs to be issued.

Home Office: Telephone Services

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) phone calls and (b) other inquiries the Windrush taskforce has received from outside the UK, by country, to date.

Caroline Nokes: As at noon on 22/05/2018 the Home Office has received 212 enquiries from overseas. A country breakdown is available for 162 of these enquires.Aruba 1Australia 3Bangladesh 9Barbados 13Botswana 1Dominica 2The Gambia 1Germany 1Ghana 4Grenada 6Guyana 1Jamaica 63Kenya 1Malawi 1Nigeria 32Pakistan 4Saint Kitts & Nevis 3Saint Lucia 6Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 2Trinidad & Tobago 4Uganda 1United States 2Zimbabwe 1

Immigration: Freezing of Assets

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department,how many bank account freezing orders have been (a) applied for by his Department under the powers contained in Schedule 7 of the Immigration Act 2016, (b) granted by a magistrates court and (c) granted and then revoked following an appeal since January 2018.

Caroline Nokes: The operation of the banking measures in the 2016 Immigration Act is at an early stage. Banks and building societies had until the end of the first quarter of this year to conduct their checks against Home Office disqualified persons data and the results have been reviewed. Currently, no freezing orders have been applied for, granted or have been revoked following an appeal under the powers contained in Schedule 7 of the Immigration Act 2016.

Windrush Generation: Immigration

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Home Office staff have been redeployed to the Windrush task force from work on citizenship applications.

Caroline Nokes: The Department has deployed 53 staff from Citizenship casework operations to support the work of the Windrush Taskforce.

Windrush Generation: Greater London

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people from the Windrush Generation who live in (a) Camberwell and Peckham constituency, (b) the London Borough of Southwark and (c) London.

Caroline Nokes: The information requested is not held by the Department.The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Office for National Statistics. The Office for National Statistics has published data on an estimate of the population classified as usually resident in the UK, from National level to Region level in England and Wales, by country of birth and by year of arrival in the UK. The published data can be found on the ONS website at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/adhocs/008406ct08002011censuscobukcaribbeancontinentsbyyrarrivalbypassportnattoregion

Immigration: Windrush Generation

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Written Statement of 24 May 2018 on Immigration, HCWS722, whether his Department plans to publish written guidance on the evidentiary burden on members of the Windrush generation who apply for citizenship or right to remain.

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Written Statement of 24 May 2018 on Immigration, HCWS722, whether (a) members of the Windrush generation, (b) their children who were born in the UK or were minors when they arrived in the UK and (c) people who arrived in the UK between 1973 and 1988 who have been refused (i) citizenship and (ii) the right to remain will have the right to appeal against that decision in the UK.

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Written Statement of 24 May 2018 on Immigration, HCWS722, whether (a) members of the Windrush generation, (b) their children who were born in the UK or were minors when they arrived in the UK and (c) people who arrived in the UK between 1973 and 1988 will have access to legal aid for their applications for (i) citizenship and (ii) the right to remain.

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Written Statement of 24 May 2018 on Immigration, HCWS722, what training his Department will provide to immigration caseworkers on the new rules relating to that Statutory Instrument.

Caroline Nokes: On 24 May the Department published its guidance on how decision makers will decide a Windrush Scheme applications. The evidential burden is set out in the guidance that is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-scheme-casework-guidanceThe Department has set up a dedicated team to proactively support members of the Windrush Generation and has implemented a simplified application process. All staff considering Windrush Scheme cases are experienced caseworkers, with further bespoke training focused on the published guidance set out in the Statutory Instrument and underlining the sensitive nature of these cases.All applications under the Windrush Scheme will be handled sympathetically and proactively. The taskforce will ensure that all relevant evidence is considered and have already helped more than 800 people to get the documentation they need to demonstrate their right to be in the UK.Anyone who believes their application has been refused incorrectly will be able to reapply through the scheme at no extra cost.

Immigration: Disclosure of Information

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that (a) members of the Windrush generation, (b) their children who were born in the UK or were minors when they arrived in the UK and (c) people who arrived in the UK between 1973 and 1988 who approach the Windrush task force will not have their information passed to Immigration Enforcement.

Caroline Nokes: On 24 May the Department published its guidance on how decision makers will decide a Windrush Scheme applications. The evidential burden is set out in the guidance that is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-scheme-casework-guidanceThe Department has set up a dedicated team to proactively support members of the Windrush Generation and has implemented a simplified application process. All staff considering Windrush Scheme cases are experienced caseworkers, with further bespoke training focused on the published guidance set out in the Statutory Instrument and underlining the sensitive nature of these cases.All applications under the Windrush Scheme will be handled sympathetically and proactively. The taskforce will ensure that all relevant evidence is considered and have already helped more than 800 people to get the documentation they need to demonstrate their right to be in the UK.Anyone who believes their application has been refused incorrectly will be able to reapply through the scheme at no extra cost

Knives: Crime

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding the Government has made available for research into knife crime prevention in the last two years; and how much funding is being made available in the next 12 months.

Victoria Atkins: The Government’s Serious Violence Strategy sets out the action it is taking to address serious violence and in particular the recent increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide. We have carried out an analysis of the trends and drivers of serious violence and this looked at the evidence of the key risk factors which may mean a young person may have a greater propensity to get involved in crime than would otherwise be the case. It also sets out the evidence about what are the most effective type of programmes and the importance of early intervention with young people and to provide them with the skills and resilience to lead productive lives free from violence. In 2017/18 we awarded £765,000 to 47 projects from the (anti-knife crime) Community Fund launched in October 2017 to support local communities across England and Wales to tackle knife crime. In addition we have announced up to £1million for a new round of the Community Fund on 18 May which is currently open for bids for funding from community groups. As part of our work with successful projects, we will require a report back outlining the outcomes achieved and the nature and level of the impact their interventions have had on young people.The Serious Violence Strategy also includes a commitment for a new £11 million Early Intervention Youth Fund to support communities for early intervention and prevention with young people for 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020. We have also provided support to Redthread to expand its capacity and youth violence intervention work to Birmingham and Nottingham.

Windrush Generation: Biometrics

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the issuing of biometric residence permits for Windrush cases has been prioritised by his Department over other cases in the last two months.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office is processing Windrush cases, and the issuing of the associated Biometric Residence Permits (BRP) once a decision has been made, as a priority.This is being successfully managed to provide Windrush individuals with the documents they need as soon as possible, without impacting on the performance of wider BRP production.

Windrush Generation: Biometrics

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many biometric residence permits have been issued for Windrush cases in the last two months.

Caroline Nokes: As at 03 June, the Home Office had confirmed the status of 1,425 applicants and either issued Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) or arranged for BRPs to be issued.

Windrush Generation

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, the total cost of travel claims for staff redeployed from their normal location of work as part of the Windrush taskforce in each of the last two months.

Caroline Nokes: The information requested is not recorded in a format that can be broken down to the level of detail requested.

Home Office: Non-departmental Public Bodies

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) women and (b) men his Department has appointed to each of its non-Departmental Public Bodies in each of the last five years.

Victoria Atkins: The gender breakdown of senior appointments to the Home Office’s non-Departmental Public Bodies for the last five years is given below:.YearTotal appointments madeFemaleMale2013-146836 (53%)32 (47%)2014-153513 (37%)22 (63%)2015-164025 (63%)15 (37%)2016-173213 (41%)19 (59%)2017-183217 (53%)15 (47%)Total207104 (50.2%)103 (49.8%) These figures reflect those provided each year to the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

Forced Marriage: Young People

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department holds on the number of forced marriages that have taken place involving (a) a male and (b) a female below the age of 16 in each of the last three years.

Victoria Atkins: The UK is a world-leader in the fight to tackle the brutal practice of forced marriage. The joint Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit provides vital support to between 1,200 -1,400 potential cases a year.Forced marriage is a hidden crime and therefore the total number of victims who entered a forced marriage is unknown. In 2017, FMU assisted 164 female victims and 22 male victims who were 15 and under. In 2016, FMU assisted 207 female victims and 13 male victim who were 15 and under. In 2015, FMU assisted 160 female victims and 14 male victim who were 15 and under.

Domestic Violence

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of domestic violence against migrant women.

Victoria Atkins: Domestic abuse is a terrible crime and this Government is determined to tackle it. All victims of domestic abuse are entitled to the protection of the civil and criminal law while in the UK – regardless of immigration status. We recognise that there may be additional barriers for migrant women in reporting domestic abuse.We are currently working to create an evidence base in order to review and improve how the immigration system caters to individuals who have been victims of domestic abuse. This includes the provision of £250,000 funding through the Tampon Tax Fund to Southall Black Sisters to pilot support for women and their children affected by violence and abuse on non-spousal visas with no recourse to public funds.

Domestic Violence

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his Department's policy is on making a breach of the proposed Domestic Abuse Protection Orders a criminal offence.

Victoria Atkins: The Government’s wide-ranging consultation on domestic abuse closed last Thursday. The consultation asked for views on the proposed Domestic Abuse Protection Order – including whether breach of the order should be criminalised. We are analysing more than 3,200 responses received from survivors of domestic abuse, frontline professionals, experts from the domestic abuse sector and academics.As announced in the Queen’s Speech, the Government remain committed to bringing forward a draft Bill this Session.

Dogs: Theft

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment has been made of trends in the level of dog theft.

Victoria Atkins: The Government has not specifically assessed trends in the level of dog thefts. The Home Office holds information on notifiable offences recorded by the police including theft offences, but it is not possible to tell from this information how many dogs or pets in general were stolen.The Government recognises that these are distressing crimes for pet owners and they must be reported to the police so that they can be investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice.

Home Office: Written Questions

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to respond to Questions 147975,147976,147977,147978 and 147979, on Immigration: Windrush Generation, tabled on 24 May 2018 by the hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton.

Caroline Nokes: UINs 147975,147976,147977,147978 and 147979 were responded to on the 26 June 2018

Mining: Industrial Disputes

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the implications are for his policy on conducting an inquiry into police action in England and Wales during the 1984 miners' strike of the decision by the Scottish Justice Secretary to order an independent review of the effect of policing on communities in Scotland during that strike.

Mr Nick Hurd: There are no plans to review the Government’s decision of 31 October 2016 not to establish a public inquiry into the policing of the events at the Orgreave coking plant on 18 June 1984.

Animal Experiments

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to recital 10 of the EU animal experiments directive 2010/63/EU, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the objective of achieving the final goal of full replacement of procedures on live animals for scientific and educational purposes is fully reflected in domestic law following the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and the expiry of any transition period.

Mr Ben Wallace: The use of animals in scientific research remains a vital tool in improving our understanding of how biological systems work both in health and disease. Such use is crucial for the development of new medicines and cutting edge medical technologies for both humans and animals, and for the protection of our environment.The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, as amended in 2012, requires that testing only takes place where no scientifically satisfactory non-animal alternative method exists. Project licence proposals for research on animals, for which there is no non-animal alternative, must comply fully with the principles of the 3Rs: replacement, reduction and refinement.Following EU exit, the requirement for the replacement of animal tests where practicable, and the principles of the 3Rs, will be fully retained in ASPA.

Shipping: Migrant Workers

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2018 to Question 151151 on Migrant Workers: Shipping, on what date that concession (a) was granted and (b) came into effect; and how many employers have used that concession to date.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2018 to Question 151151 on Migrant Workers: Shipping, how many non-EEA workers have been employed through that concession.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2018 to Question 151151 on Migrant Workers: Shipping, whether he plans to issue guidance to employers on how to regularise arrangements for such crew.

Caroline Nokes: The concession was granted on 21 April 2017 and has been in force from that date. The Home Office does not have information on the total number of non-EEA workers admitted to work in territorial waters under these arrangements, or how many employers have made use of them. The Home Office already publishes information on the arrangements that are available for obtaining permission to work under the Immigration Rules.

Drugs: Pregnancy

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is an aggravated offence for a pregnant women to use (a) cannabis, (b) ecstasy, (c) heroin and (d) other illegal or street drugs during pregnancy; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Nick Hurd: There is no specific offence for drug use. It is an offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 for any person to possess a controlled drug. The penalty will depend on: the class and quantity of drug, where a person and the drugs were found, their personal history and other aggravating or mitigating factors. The Government is determined to protect vulnerable women from drug misuse. Advice about alcohol and drugs is available to pregnant women as part of their routine antenatal care. Pregnant women who misuse alcohol or drugs will be put in contact with a midwife or doctor who has special expertise in the care of pregnant women with alcohol or drug problems. They will be able to refer them to an alcohol or drug treatment programme and other organisations that can help.

Slavery

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 May 2018 to Question 140986, when the alignment of subsistence rates for victims of trafficking with asylum seekers is planed to take place; and what the new subsistence rates are to be set at for victims of modern slavery supported by the National Referral Mechanism living in (a) accommodation in a safe house with food provided and (b) a safe house where they purchase their own food who (i) have applied for asylum and (ii) are receiving outreach support.

Victoria Atkins: We have not yet announced a date for the alignment of subsistence rates and we will set this out in due course, when we have finalised the specific details around the implementation. We are working closely with stakeholders to ensure that this happens as smoothly as possible. The overall amount of money available for supporting victims of modern slavery will not fall, but by making these changes more money is being made available to treble the period of “move on” support, which will happen at the same time, and will help people leaving victim support with their transition to other arrangements.When considering the level of these rates, the essential needs of potential victims were assessed to be comparable to the needs of asylum seekers. This is why the tested and established methodology that has been developed to measure the level of subsistence for asylum seekers will be adopted to measure the level of subsistence for potential victims of modern slavery. The rate is reassessed annually, and in 2018 was increased to £37.75. Where it has been identified that victims of slavery have needs above those of asylum seekers or have additional entitlements under the Council of Europe Convention Against Trafficking in Human Beings, these needs are met within the existing Adult Victims of Modern Slavery Care Contract. The methodology includes an allowance for individuals to purchase their food, and this will be taken into consideration when considering the level of subsistence for potential victims who live in catered accommodation, to ensure consistency throughout support.  Victims will continue to receive dedicated and expert support, which is tailored to their unique needs as victims of modern slavery. This includes access to legal aid, counselling, NHS medical and dental services. This will ensure there is a consistent approach for all individuals receiving similar government support. It is also essential that we target support to confirmed victims, at the point they need it most.We are working closely with the Salvation Army and the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner to ensure that the implementation of this change is as smooth as possible.

Modern Slavery Strategy and Implementation Group

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Modern Slavery and Implementation Group last met; and what the date is of its next planned meeting.

Victoria Atkins: The Modern Slavery Strategy and Implementation Group (MSSIG) which I Chair, brings together key stakeholders including civil society to support the implementation of the Government’s modern slavery strategyThe group meets quarterly. The last meeting took place on 24 October 2017. Unfortunately, the meeting scheduled for May 2018 was postponed. The date of the next meeting is currently being arranged.

Visas: Sponsorship

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason evidence from visa sponsors is not requested at the start of the application process.

Caroline Nokes: The step by step process for applying for a Standard Visitor Visa is set out on Gov.UK here https://www.gov.uk/apply-standard-visitor-visaStep 2 “Prepare the evidence you need” provides guidance and links to guidance on the supporting documents that can be provided.

British Nationals Abroad: EU Countries

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether existing family members of UK nationals resident in the EU will be entitled to residency in the UK after December 2020.

Caroline Nokes: Although not covered by the draft Withdrawal Agreement on citizens’ rights, as a matter of domestic policy, where family members of UK nationals who have exercised their Treaty rights in another EU Member State are lawfully resident in the UK under regulation 9 of the 2016 Regulations by 31 December 2020, it is our intention that they will be eligible to apply for status under the EU Settlement Scheme.Those who arrive in the UK after 31 December 2020 will be subject to the future immigration arrangements which are yet to be decided.

Islamic State: British Nationals Abroad

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that the activities of people married ISIS fighters and returned to the UK are monitored; and that the (a) contacts and (b) movements of those people are regulated.

Mr Ben Wallace: Everyone who returns from engaging in the conflict in Syria or Iraq, whether male or female, must expect to be investigated by the police to determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to our national security. Where there is evidence that crimes have been committed, those responsible should expect to be prosecuted. However any decision on whether to prosecute will be taken by the police and Crown Prosecution Service on a case by case basis. In addition to seeking prosecution of terrorism suspects, we use a range of tools to manage the threat posed by returners - including imposing travel restrictions for individuals subject to Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures and using Temporary Exclusion Orders to place in-country conditions upon return, including regular reporting to a police station. The majority of those who have returned did so in the earlier stages of the conflict, and were investigated on their return. A significant proportion of these individuals are assessed as no longer being of national security concern.

Airguns

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many responses his Department received to its review of air weapons regulation in England and Wales; and how many of those responses were in favour of no changes.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Government received over 50,000 representations from members of the public about the review of the regulations of air weapons. The great majority were from people concerned about the use of air weapons to harm animals such as cats, and were in favour of the increased regulation of air weapons. We are considering the responses and will publish our findings in due course.

Tobacco: Smuggling

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what  the value was of illicit tobacco products seized in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017.

Caroline Nokes: This information can be found in the Border Force Transparency Data. This is published quarterly on the GOV.UK website at https://www.gov.uk/search?q=Border+Force+Transparency+Data

Visas: Married People

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the priority settlement programme for spouse visas.

Caroline Nokes: The Priority Visa Service for settlement applications aims to process straightforward cases within 30 working days.

UK Visas and Immigration: Telephone Services

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason there is no customer helpline number available to enable applicants to contact their UK Visas and Immigration caseworkers directly.

Caroline Nokes: UKVI customer helplines are in place to provide information and direct customers, who are mostly potential applicants, to the most appropriate and relevant part of the GOV.UK website which provides guidance and instructions. This covers but is not limited to: - • the range of visas UKV&I offers • the process, cost and requirements to apply and current processing timescales relevant to the visa application and• the immigration rules  Our customer service delivery model ensures that our customer helpline advisors can handle customer enquiries thus enabling our case working teams to process applications.  Emergency or urgent customer enquiries are regularly escalated via the customer helpline to the appropriate part of our case working operations for resolution.

Visas: Applications

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to improve processing times for visa applicants.

Caroline Nokes: Published data on visa processing times, including the percentage of visas processed within published service standards, is published online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data (then listed by publication date under ‘UK Visas & Immigration’). The large majority of cases are straightforward and are dealt with within Service standards UK Visas and Immigration continually reviews its global visa operation to improve performance and ensure value for money while maintaining excellent customer service.

Veterinary Medicine: Migrant Workers

Alec Shelbrooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to include veterinarians working in meat hygiene in the shortage occupations list.

Caroline Nokes: On 15 June, as part of the changes we are making to alter the allocation of places under the Tier 2 (General) cap, the Government commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee to undertake a full review of the composition of the Shortage Occupation List. This review will enable the MAC to look at which posts are in national shortage and should be given priority within the Tier 2 cap in future.It is right that the Government await the conclusions from that report – due in Spring 2019 – before amending the SOL.

Home Office: Procurement

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 30 May 2018 to Question 146797 on procurement, how long that contractor has been employed by his Department at that daily rate.

Victoria Atkins: The contractor in question will as of the end of June have been engaged under contract to the Department for 15 months, though it should be noted that this contractor is engaged on a part time basis of six days per month therefore they have actually only worked for the Department for a maximum of 90 days during this period.

Religious Buildings: Security

Laura Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has a timetable for reopening the Vulnerable Faith Institution Scheme to enable bids from places of worship to improve their security measures; and if he will make a statement.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office has committed £2.4m over three years (2016 to 2019) to provide protective security measures to places of worship in England and Wales that have been subject or are vulnerable to hate crime.The third year of the scheme opened for applications on 8 June. The Vulnerable Faith Institutions Scheme was a separate funding scheme of £1million for one year following the attack at Finsbury Park in June 2017.

Migrant Workers: Health Professions

Laura Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many health professionals have been refused visas in the last 12 months; and what the timetable is for the cap on skilled health workers to be removed.

Caroline Nokes: Information on Tier 2 entry clearance visa applications broken down by outcome (grants, refusals, withdrawals, lapsed) is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics Visas volume 1 table vi_01_q at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2018.On Friday 15 June, the Government laid amended Immigration Rules altering the allocation of places under the Tier 2 (General) cap. This will come into effect on 6 July. The change is intended to be temporary and will be kept under review.

Police: Greater London

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his Department will take steps to ensure that the National and International Capital Cities Grant funding meets all London's policing needs.

Mr Nick Hurd: We have been clear that the police will have the resources they need to fight crime and protect the public. The Metropolitan Police Service will receive over £2.5bn in direct revenue funding for 2018/19 including the £174m National and International Capital City (NICC) Grant and over £640m in precept, up by £49m from last year. In addition, the Mayor decided to provide additional funding from business rates income, meaning that the MPS will receive a total of £110m additional funding this year compared to 2017/18.Decisions on future funding levels, including the NICC Grant, will be taken in due course noting that the Home Secretary has stated that he will be prioritising funding for the police at the next Spending Review.

Security Guards: Licensing

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what targets his Department sets for the length of time it takes to process a Security Industry Authority application; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is an Executive Non-Departmental Body (NDPB) of the Home Office. The SIA is operationally independent. The SIA has a performance management system which includes Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which are linked to their corporate objectives and performance indicators.The Annual Reports and Accounts provide published information on the SIA’s performance and is available on the SIA website at: https://www.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk

Security Guards: Licensing

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how long his Department has taken on average to process Security Industry Authority applications for people in Orkney and Shetland constituency in each of the last three years.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Security Industry Authority does not collate data by Parliamentary Constituencies.

Visas: Married People

Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the equity of the £18,600 minimum income requirement for spousal visas where the potential income of the incoming spouse would enable a family to meet that threshold.

Caroline Nokes: The Supreme Court has upheld the lawfulness of the minimum income requirement for spouse visas, which prevents burdens on the taxpayer and promotes integration. The Supreme Court agreed that it strikes a fair balance between the interests of those wishing to sponsor a spouse to settle in the UK and of the community in general.The earning potential of the non-EEA national partner is no guarantee that they will find work in the UK. Those with an appropriate job offer here can apply under Tier 2 of the Points Based System. However, in cases in which there are exceptional circumstances which could require entry to the UK to be granted, the applicant and their partner may be permitted to rely on other sources of income, which can include the potential income of the spouse or partner.

National Crime Agency

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many NCA-led arrests there have been in each country of the UK in each year since 2015.

Mr Ben Wallace: The breakdown for NCA-led arrests in each country of the UK since 2015 is as follows: 201520162017England and Wales1,4361,337753Northern Ireland342816Scotland101012UK Total1,4801,375781 The lower number of NCA's recorded arrests in 2017 is attributable to several factors, including the Agency's wider strategic intent to increase the focus on all forms of disruptive activity and targeting those criminals engaged at the highest end of offending.

Sexual Offences

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help reduce demand for commercial sexual exploitation.

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to combat organised sexual exploitation.

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has to tackle commercial websites that facilitate sexual exploitation.

Victoria Atkins: The UK has some of the toughest anti-trafficking laws in the world and is committed to protecting victims and pursuing the slavery gangs behind this abhorrent trade to prevent further exploitation in the future.In terms of reducing demand for commercial sexual services, the Government recognises the need for research on the nature and prevalence of prostitution before we consider any changes to underlying legislation and policy and have committed £150,000 to fund a research project being undertaken by the University of Bristol. The Government’s focus remains on protecting those selling sex from harm and enabling the police to target those who exploit vulnerable people involved in prostitution.To support the police to tackle organised sex-trafficking and other forms of modern slavery, the Government has provided £8.5m of additional funding to the police in England and Wales to provide bespoke and dedicated modern slavery capabilities. This police activity is supported at a national level by the National Crime Agency who lead multiagency operations to target key thematic slavery and trafficking threats including organised sexual exploitation.The increased law enforcement activity against the slavery gangs extends to preventing the use of the internet to facilitate sex trafficking. The NCA, supported by Government, is leading multi-agency work to investigate, disrupt and prevent online sex trafficking facilitated via commercial sex websites.

Prostitution

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help reduce demand for prostitution.

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support the Government provides to women wanting to exit prostitution.

Victoria Atkins: The Government is committed to tackling the harm and exploitation that can be associated with prostitution, and believes that people who want to leave prostitution should be given every opportunity to find routes out.Protecting those involved in prostitution is a strand of our wider work to eradicate violence against women and girls, and we regularly meet with charities, welfare organisations and academics to discuss current issues related to prostitution and sex work.The Government has provided over £2m to organisations supporting sex workers, including £650,000 from the Violence Against Women and Girls Service Transformation Fund to Merseyside PCC, to provide a victim-focused service for sex workers who are victims, or at risk of sexual or domestic violence and abuse, exploitation or human trafficking.As set out in the response to the Home Affairs Select Committee, the Government recognises the need for research into the nature and prevalence of prostitution in England and Wales. The Home Office has provided £150,000 to fund this research, which will be carried out by the University of Bristol, and will help inform future policy.

Driving: Charities

Stephen Kerr: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what arrangements are in place for police forces in England to certificate blue light driving for volunteers in charities.

Mr Nick Hurd: There is currently no legal requirement for voluntary and charitable organisations to gain police certification for those volunteers who need to drive in response to emergency situations. In order to discharge their duty of care to their volunteers and other road users, such organisations are encouraged to make arrangements with police forces or other suitable training providers.

Human Trafficking

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2018 to Question 129315, if he will develop a cost-effective means of recording in a readily accessible format the route of travel of people who have been illegally trafficked to the UK.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office records and publishes data, broken down by nationality, of all those who make an asylum claim or are referred to the National Referral mechanism (NRM) as a potential victim of trafficking or modern slavery. Information concerning a claimants route of travel to the United Kingdom is not recorded centrally in a readily accessible format, and could only be provided at disproportionate costs by examination of individual interview transcripts and case files. There are no plans to record this information.

Veterinary Medicine: Skilled Workers

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the lifting of restrictions on the allocation of Tier 2 visas will apply to highly skilled veterinarians.

Caroline Nokes: On Friday 15 June, the Government announced changes to the allocation of places within the Tier 2 (General) cap of 20,700. The change – which will be implemented through amended Immigration Rules coming into effect on 6 July – will ensure that all doctors and all nurses needed in the UK will be able to be recruited to work here without being counted against the cap. This is intended to be a temporary change which recognises the importance of alleviating pressure on the NHS and which creates extra space within the cap for other sectors of the economy, including highly skilled veterinarians.  In parallel, we have asked the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the full composition of the Shortage Occupation List.

Social Services: Migrant Workers

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will review the visa system for social care workers.

Caroline Nokes: Employers who are unable to find suitable resident workers to fill vacancies in the UK for highly skilled social care workers can be recruited under Tier 2, our main immigration work route. Social care workers working in children’s and family services are recognised as being in national shortage and continue to receive first priority within the monthly Tier 2 allocation processOn Friday 15 June, the Government announced changes to the allocation of places within the Tier 2 (General) cap of 20,700. The change, which will ensure that all doctors and all nurses needed in the UK will be able to be recruited to work here without being counted against the cap, will create extra space within the cap for other sectors of the economy, including social care workers who meet the minimum skills equirement. We have asked the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the full composition of the Shortage Occupation List and continue to keep all immigration routes under review.

Compass Contracts

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the provision of asylum accommodation under the COMPASS contracts.

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how long on average asylum seekers  have spent in initial asylum accommodation provided under the COMPASS contracts in the last 12 months.

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the level of overcrowding in asylum accommodation; and what assessment he has made of the effect of living in asylum accommodation on vulnerable people.

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2018 to Question 133797 on asylum: housing, what assessment his Department has made of the level of compliance of accommodation providers with national and local housing regulations on room sharing.

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2018 to Question HL5946 on asylum: housing, if he will publish the criteria set out in the COMPASS contracts on the allocation of shared rooms; and whether the Government has made an assessment of the level of compliance with that criteria.

Caroline Nokes: Accommodation providers are required to provide safe, habitable, fit for purpose and correctly equipped accommodation that complies with the Decent Homes Standard in addition to standards outlined in relevant national or local housing legislationThe contract requires Providers to inspect each property every month and UKVI inspects a significant proportion of properties each year to ensure standards are being met. Where asylum accommodation is found to be falling short of the required standards UKVI has procedures in place to hold suppliers to account to quickly resolve the issue. The Home Office closely monitors the length of stay of asylum seekers in Initial Accommodation and aims to move people to Dispersed Accommodation within 19 days. However, some stay in Initial Accommodation for shorter or longer periods depending on their individual needs. Information on the length of stay of people in Initial Accommodation is not currently recorded in a format suitable for publication. Accommodation providers must comply with national and local housing regulations including those regarding room sharing. The accommodation contracts set out who may share a room, which includes allowing room sharing for couples, unrelated adults of the same sex and related children depending on their genders and ages. Providers are contractually required to take account of any particular circumstances and vulnerability of those that they accommodate and an assessment is made on a case-by-case basis depending on the specific needs of the individual. The statement of requirements contains the criteria for room sharing and can be found https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive/contract/503103

Members: Correspondence

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Harrow West dated 12 June 2018, reference number GT31190.

Caroline Nokes: The Hon. Members letter of 12 June will be responded to within the Cabinet Office service standard of 20 working days.

Chemicals: Electronic Commerce

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 May to Question 142822 on Chemicals: Electronic Commerce, if he will publish an example of the guidance that has been provided to online retailers to support their reporting obligation under the Poisons Act 1972.

Mr Ben Wallace: We do not make this guidance publicly available owing to concerns surrounding national security.

Asylum: Cameroon

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government has received any applications for asylum on the grounds of persecution because of political opinion from persons originating in Southern Cameroon within the last nine months.

Caroline Nokes: Information on asylum claimants is held on both the asylum case file and the main immigration database. This will include personal details of claimants and relatives such as claimed dates and places of birth, claimed religion, claimed ethnicity, as well as details of their asylum claims. The way this information is stored is such that it is often not possible to report on these information fields without conducting a manual search of both paper and electronic records. Therefore, we cannot identify how many asylum claims have been granted or refused leave from specific parts of countries of origin or as a result of political opinionPublished data relating to the outcomes of asylum claims from each country (including Cameroon) can be found in tab as_02 at volume 1 of the quarterly Immigration Statistics release:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2018/list-of-tables#asylum

Immigration: EU Nationals

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has plans to allow EU citizens living in the UK to apply for settled status in languages other than English.

Caroline Nokes: As outlined in the Statement of Intent published on 21 June. There will be support provided for non-English speakers. Key information, such as the scheme application guidance will be provided in all the other 23 official languages of the EU.

Fire and Rescue Services: Finance

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for fire and rescue services.

Mr Nick Hurd: Fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work. Overall fire and rescue authorities will receive around £2.3 billion in 2018/19.Single purpose fire and rescue authorities will see an increase in core spending power of 1.2% in cash terms in 2018/19, and an overall increase of 0.3% from 2015/16 to 2019/20. Financial reserves held by single purpose FRAs increased by 88% to £615 million between 31 March 2011 and 31 March 2017. This is equivalent to 45% of their core spending power

Asylum: Scotland

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers are in receipt of subsistence-only support payments in each Scottish local authority.

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers are in receipt of subsistence and accommodation payments, in each Scottish local authority.

Caroline Nokes: Published data regarding asylum support, broken down by support type and local authority is available:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2018-data-tables

Immigration: Biometrics

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time is for issuing biometric residence permits in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Caroline Nokes: The average waiting time for issuing Biometric Residence Permits (BRP) is not specifically included in statistics published by the Home Office. However, the overall processing times for applications made to UKVI are published.Published information can be found at www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-releaseOnce the decision to grant leave is made a request to personalise the BRP is made electronically to Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) who produce the personalised BRP on behalf of UKVI. They have a service level to personalise 90% of BRPs within one working day of receipt and the remaining 10% within two working days of receipt. DVLA currently personalise 100% of cards within one working day of receipt.Once produced, the card is either delivered to the customer or made available for collection by the customer from the Post Office depending upon whether the leave application was made inside or outside the UK. For those cards requiring delivery in the UK, the card is collected by from DVLA by DX. DX has a service level agreement to attempt to deliver 100% of BRPs within 48 hours of receipt from DVLA. They currently meet this service standard. For those cards to be collected from the Post Office, they are made available for collection within 10 days of the customer’s

Undocumented Migrants: Deportation

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules, HC1154, published on 15 June 2018, what Memorandum of Understanding agreements his Department has with each of the other 26 countries on facilitating the return of unlawful migrants.

Caroline Nokes: Of the 26 countries listed in the Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules, HC1154, the Home Office has a Memorandum of Understanding on facilitating the return of unlawful migrants with one country, South Korea.

Visas: Overseas Students

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the change in the number of student visas issued to applicants from India between 2010 and 2018.

Caroline Nokes: We welcome Indian students who want to come to the UK to study at our world-leading educational institutions and there remains no limit on the number of genuine international students who can come to study in the UK.We issue more visas to students from India than any other country, except China and the USA.In the year ending March 2018, the number of Indian student visas granted increased by 30% to 15,171 from the previous year.Over 90% of Indian students who apply for a UK visa get one. This is up from 86% in 2014 and 83% the year before that. In addition, the proportion of Indian students coming to study in the UK at a university has increased from around 50% in 2010 to 93% in 2017.

Asylum: Finance

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of living for long periods of time on asylum support on the integration outcomes of new refugees.

Caroline Nokes: No assessment has taken place about the impact of the time people spend on asylum support on the integration of new refugees. The support available to people who claim asylum includes free accommodation, a cash allowance to cover essential living needs, free healthcare and education for their dependent children.If a supported person is granted refugee status they are able to take employment or apply for mainstream benefits.The Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper sets out our commitment to working with civil society and other partners to increase the integration support for refugees in the United Kingdom. The consultation on the Green Paper closed on 5 June and we are considering the responses.

Migrant Workers: Life Sciences

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the life sciences sector can continue to access highly-skilled overseas workers after the UK leaves the EU.

Caroline Nokes: We have commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on the economic and social impacts of the UK’s exit from the EU and also on how the UK’s immigration system should be aligned with a modern industrial strategy.The Government will want to ensure that decisions on the long-term arrangements are based on evidence. The commission that we have asked the MAC to undertake is very much part of this. The MAC are due to publish their final report by September 2018.

Immigration: Appeals

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the applications to overturn decisions made under 322 (5) of the Immigration Rules at judicial review have (a) been successful (c) been settled out of court and (c) remain outstanding.

Caroline Nokes: Paragraph 322(5) applies across many categories of the Immigration Rules. This information could only be obtained through a manual trawl of individual case records at disproportionate cost.Such a manual trawl is, however, being carried out for Tier 1 (General) migrants who have been refused under paragraph 322(5), as part of the current review of these cases. This work is ongoing. We will report our findings to the Home Affairs Select Committee once the review is complete.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Department's policy paper, EU Settlement Scheme: statement of intent, published on 21 June 2018, whether the continuous qualifying period would apply to a person who was absent from the UK for (a) eight months and (b) 13 months for the purposes of scientific research.

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the EU Settlement Scheme: Statement of Intent published on 21 June 2018, whether the continuous qualifying period would apply to an individual who was absent from the UK for (a) eight months, and (b) 13 months for the purposes of research collaboration.

Caroline Nokes: To obtain settled status, EU citizens and their family members will generally need to have lived continuously in the UK for five years (the continuous qualifying period). Those with less than five years’ continuous residence will be eligible to apply for pre-settled status.For those in the continuous qualifying period for settled status, “continuously resident” means that a person has not been absent from the UK for more than six months in total in any 12-month period. There is no restriction on the number of absences permitted, provided that the total period of absence does not exceed six months in any 12-month period.There are some exceptions to this; one instance of 12-month absence in a five-year period is permitted for an important reason such as work, study, serious illness or pregnancy. We will be pragmatic about what activity constitutes an important reason. Any period of absence for compulsory military service is also permitted.However, for applicants who have been continuously resident in the UK for five years, and are therefore eligible for settled status, “continuously resident” means that since completing that period they have not been absent from the UK for more than five consecutive years.

Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office: Public Expenditure

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Expenditure over £25,000 - March 2018, published on 2 May 2018, for what parts of Civil Service Learning are the payments to Capita Business Services Ltd.

Oliver Dowden: The payments to Capita Business Services Ltd. are for learning and development costs as part of Civil Service training and development.

Intelligence Services: Detainees

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has consulted key stakeholders on changes proposed to the Consolidated Guidance; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Lidington: I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the Prime Minister’s Written Ministerial Statement of 15 September 2016 (HCWS157).

Immigration: EU Nationals

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the document EU Settlement Scheme: Statement of Intent published on 21 June 2018, whether EU citizens granted settled or pre-settled status in the UK will retain the right to stand as a candidate in local elections (a) during the proposed transition period up until 31 December 2020; and (b) after 31 December 2020.

Chloe Smith: I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to the Member for Cambridge to PQ129820 on 28 March 2018.

Treasury

Medical Equipment: VAT

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the VAT revenue accrued to the public purse from the procurement of (a) medical equipment, (b) lifesaving emergency equipment and (c) defibrillators in each of the last five years.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the VAT refunds made in relation to the procurement of (a) medical equipment, (b) lifesaving medical emergency medical equipment and (c) defibrillators, in each of the last five years.

Mel Stride: This level of detail is not requested on VAT returns and therefore we do not have data available on how much VAT revenue was accrued or refunded in relation to particular products.

Medical Equipment: VAT

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to review the policy of charging VAT on (a) defibrillators and (b) other medical equipment.

Mel Stride: We recognise that provision of defibrillators could help those who have a cardiac arrest outside a hospital setting. The government maintains several VAT reliefs to aid purchases of defibrillators, including purchases made by local authorities and those made through voluntary contributions which are donated to eligible charities or the NHS. The current framework of European law limits further VAT reliefs being applied to defibrillators. Our future relationship with the EU, including on VAT, is subject to negotiation. Any future decisions on VAT will continue to be taken in line with the normal Budget process.

Income Tax: Appeals

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of appeals against HMRC decisions on (a) pay as you earn and (b) income tax were upheld in the last calendar year.

Mel Stride: Information in the form requested is not readily available and could only be obtained, compiled and collated at disproportionate cost.

Tobacco: Smuggling

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the amount of tobacco smuggled into the UK in each of the last five years.

Robert Jenrick: The information requested is not available. HM Revenue and Customs publish estimates of the total tax revenue lost to the illicit market in cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco, the latest estimate available is for the tax year 2016/17. Estimates for the tobacco tax gap can be found in Chapter 3 of ‘Measuring tax gaps: 2018 edition’, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps.

Tobacco: Counterfeit Manufacturing

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate the amount of counterfeit tobacco products manufactured in the UK; and what the associated loss of revenue is to the Treasury.

Robert Jenrick: HMRC publishes an annual estimate of the tobacco tax gap but this does not include estimates of the component parts of the tax gap, such as UK manufactured counterfeit product. The latest estimate was included in ‘Measuring tax gaps 2018 edition’, which was published on 14 June 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps.  The tobacco tax gap is £2.5 billion in 2016/17, which is 17% of liabilities. Of this, tobacco duty was £1.9 billion and associated VAT was £0.6 billion.

Brexit

Peter Kyle: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department has taken to calculate the value of the dividend arising from the UK leaving the EU.

Peter Kyle: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the value of the dividend arising from the UK leaving the EU.

Elizabeth Truss: On 18 June, the Prime Minister set out that the NHS in England will receive an increase in funding over the next five years that equates to over £20 billion additional real terms funding a year by 2023-24. As the Prime Minister and Health Secretary have set out, some of this funding will be paid for by the UK no longer having to send annual membership subscriptions to the EU after we have left.

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman: Finance

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June to Question 153733, if he will allocate additional funding to the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman to respond to the increase in the caseload from WASPI complainants.

Elizabeth Truss: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) is independent of Government and is accountable directly to Parliament through the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. The Ombudsman has not requested additional funding to deal with WASPI complaints from HM Treasury.

Tax Avoidance

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if will bring forward legislative proposals to exclude organisations involved in tax avoidance from preparing reports required by section 166 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

John Glen: The contracting of Section 166 reports to external firms is a matter for the regulators: the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).

Tax Avoidance

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to prevent people from organisations involved in tax avoidance from being permitted to sit on the HMRC Board.

Mel Stride: The recruitment of Non-Executive Directors is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments and the appointment process includes vetting of candidates. HMRC takes significant care to make sure that individuals appointed to sit on the HMRC Board are suitable candidates.

Companies: Channel Islands

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has met representatives of the Channel Islands to discuss the potential publication of their registers of the beneficial ownership of companies.

John Glen: Treasury Ministers and officials regularly meet with representatives of the Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories, and of overseas jurisdictions, to discuss issues of mutual importance. The Government will use its best endeavours, diplomatically and with international partners, including through multilateral fora such as the G20, FATF and the OECD, to promote public registers of company beneficial ownership as the global standard by 2023. We would expect the Crown Dependencies to also adopt public registers in that event, and they have committed to doing so.

Fort Kinnaird: Sales

Tommy Sheppard: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Scottish Government receives a share of the sale to a private company of Fort Kinnaird.

Tommy Sheppard: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when his Department began discussions with M&G Estates on the sale of Fort Kinnaird.

Tommy Sheppard: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many private companies his Department held discussions with on sale of Fort Kinnaird; when these meetings took place; and who attended those meetings.

Tommy Sheppard: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what criteria his Department used to decide to sell Fort Kinnaird to a private company.

Robert Jenrick: 90B(3) of the Scotland Act 1998 stipulated that assets held in joint venture structures, rather than by The Crown Estate alone, were not included in the transfer to Scottish Ministers. The Crown Estate held a 50% interest in the Gibraltar English Limited Partnership, with the remainder held by the Hercules Unit Trust, advised by British Land. The Crown Estate operates independently from Government under the Crown Estate Management Act 1961 and therefore HM Treasury has had no discussions on the sale of Fort Kinnaird with private companies. Revenue from the sale of The Crown Estate’s interest in Fort Kinnaird will be passed to the UK Consolidated Fund, for the benefit of the UK as a whole.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Charities: Fund Raising

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect on funding for local charities of fundraising limits on society lotteries set out in the Gambling Act 2015.

Tracey Crouch: The Department does not hold data on funding for individual charities from society lotteries, however since the Gambling Act 2005 came into effect, the society lottery sector has seen year on year growth in proceeds, with a record £256 million raised for good causes in 2016-17 (figures for 2017-18 will be available later this year). As the minister responsible for civil society, I greatly appreciate the impact society lotteries have as a fundraising tool for charities, and have discussed the impact of the current limits with the Lotteries Council and some individual lotteries. We will continue to take advice from the Gambling Commission as we consider policy options. We hope to conclude considerations and provide an update in due course.

Broadband: Churches

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with representatives of the Church of England on enabling the erection of phone masts for broadband on church steeples.

Margot James: The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, in his previous role as Minister for Digital, co-chaired a meeting with the Minister for Rural Affairs and Biosecurity, with the rural Bishops, Church of England officials and the telecommunications industry on 13 December 2017, to discuss how the Church can support digital connectivity rollout in rural areas by hosting telecommunications infrastructure. This led to the Joint Accord between the Government and the National Church Institutions of the Church of England, which was signed on 18 February 2018, that seeks to promote the use of Church sites for such infrastructure.

Tickets: Touting

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what his Department's policy is on ticket touting.

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what his Department's policy is on the secondary ticket market.

Margot James: We are committed to cracking down on unacceptable behaviour in the ticketing market and improving fans’ chances of buying tickets at a reasonable price.We have strengthened the existing ticketing information requirement in the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and have introduced a new criminal offence of using automated software to buy more tickets than that allowed for profit.We support the work of enforcement agencies in this area, such as the Competition and Markets Authority, National Trading Standards, and the advertising industry's own regulator the Advertising Standards Authority.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Procurement

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2018 to Question 146174 on procurement, what the daily rate of pay is of each of those contractors who have been employed by his Department for five years or more.

Margot James: Based on the position at 31st March 2018, the daily bill rate for each of these contractors falls within the range £956.18 to £993.55 per day, a percentage of which includes an agency rate. We have provided a range rather than individual figures due to there being fewer than 5 contractors in scope.

Radio: Licensing

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of revising sections 104 and 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 to enable Ofcom to have regard to a Welsh language criteria when awarding local commercial radio licences.

Margot James: We are committed to reducing the burdens on commercial radio and will introduce legislation reform the existing licensing system when Parliamentary time allows. We do not believe that changes to enable Ofcom to have regard to a Welsh language criteria in awarding licenses, something that could significantly increase the regulatory burdens on commercial radio operators in Wales, is the right approach. The government welcomes the recent decision to launch a BBC Cymru 2 service on digital radio that operates along side the community radio services that carry Welsh language services in Wales.

Radio: Licensing

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what representations the Welsh Government has made to his Department on the criteria Ofcom uses when deciding on the award of local commercial radio licences.

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Language Commissioner on Ofcom’s compliance with the Welsh Language Standards.

Margot James: We have not received any representations from the Welsh government on the criteria that Ofcom uses when making decisions on awarding local commercial radio licences, nor have there been any discussions between the department and the Welsh Language Commissioner on Ofcom’s compliance with Welsh Language Standards. Ofcom meets with the Commissioner regularly to discuss compliance.

Internet: USA

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department will be making a response to the request made by the Government of the United States’ National Telecommunications and Information Administration for comments on its international internet priorities.

Margot James: My Department does not plan to respond to this public consultation by the US Government.

Music: Discrimination and Harassment

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with the Minister for Women and Equalities on tackling harassment and discrimination in the music sector.

Margot James: No such discussions have taken place. This government believes, everyone has the right to feel safe at work and people can only thrive when they operate in a respectful and tolerant environment so that they can make the most of their creative talents.

Music: Discrimination

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the recommendations in the report Dignity at Work published by the Incorporated Society of Musician's in April 2018.

Margot James: We are supportive of any steps taken by industry to help ensure people can feel safe and respected in their place of work. We welcome the work being undertaken by the Incorporated Society of Musicians and others within the sector.

Leader of the House

Members: Health

John Spellar: To ask the Leader of the House, who in Government sanctioned the decision of the Government Chief Whip not to agree to nod through ill hon. Members who were in the  parliamentary precincts on Wednesday 20 June 2018.

Andrea Leadsom: This is a party political matter and the Government does not comment on discussions in the usual channels.

Privy Council: Meetings

Patrick Grady: To ask the Leader of the House, what procedures are in place for notifying Rt hon Members of when meetings of the Privy Council are scheduled.

Andrea Leadsom: Privy Counsellors are notified of scheduled meetings by invitation to attend. Details of Privy Council meetings, together with the list of attendees, is published after each meeting on the Privy Council Website, https://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/privy-council/privy-council-meetings/.

Privy Council: Meetings

Patrick Grady: To ask the Leader of the House, under what circumstances Right Honourable Members of the House would be (a) invited and (b) entitled to attend a meeting of the Privy Council.

Andrea Leadsom: There are currently some 680 members of the Privy Council, but only ministers of the current Government attend scheduled meetings of Her Majesty’s Privy Council, and are notified or invited on a meeting by meeting basis. I attend each Privy Council meeting in my capacity of Lord President of the Council, together with a quorum of three further Government ministers. The quorum are invited on a rota basis, dependent on availability.There are, however, two occasions when the whole of the Privy Council is invited to attend a meeting; the announcement of the intention of a reigning Sovereign to marry; and, the Accession Council. The Privy Council Office has detailed procedures in place for contacting all Privy Counsellors in this event.

Women and Equalities

Equal Pay: Southwark

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what the gender pay gap reported under the Equality Act 2010 is in (a) Camberwell and Peckham and (b) the London Borough of Southwark.

Victoria Atkins: Under new regulations, large employers were required to publish gender pay gap data by the deadlines of 30 March for the public sector, and 4 April for the private and voluntary sector.All of the data published by organisations for the first year of gender pay gap reporting is available on the government reporting website:https://gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk/The data can be filtered by postcode; however, organisations are identified by the address they are registered at according to their Companies House record. As a result, there may be companies that employ more than 250 people in the constituency, but are registered at another address.The Office for National Statistics publishes gender pay gaps by home parliamentary constituency and local authority. These are available online in ‘constituency table’ 10.12 and ‘home geography table’ 8.12:https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/annualsurveyofhoursandearningsashegenderpaygaptables